Thanks for the link Slowman!
via Reuters
Read the entire article here...but be warned F-35 fans. This delay puts the entire program at even more risk. The plan was to get the airplane into service as quickly as possible---before Congress became aware. Now that plan is in jeopardy. Costs are gonna rise, and the death spiral will consume this beast.
Thank God!
The report cited projections that the 2B software would not be completed until November 2015, 13 months later than planned. This would delay release to the F-35 fleet until July 2016, a year after the Marines want to start using the jets.Once I would have bitched about this news. Now? I cheer.
It said there is also little margin for any weight growth, and the airplane's increased use of electrical systems makes it vulnerable to lightning and missile strikes.
Read the entire article here...but be warned F-35 fans. This delay puts the entire program at even more risk. The plan was to get the airplane into service as quickly as possible---before Congress became aware. Now that plan is in jeopardy. Costs are gonna rise, and the death spiral will consume this beast.
Thank God!
Their own missile exhaust could explode this junk?...hahahaha...That's the funniest thing I've ever read
ReplyDeleteThis will have a shock effect not only on the Marines but also on Number One F-35 partner UK.
ReplyDeleteJan 20, 2014 -- Britain's Ministry of Defence is close to placing its first major tranche of orders for the F-35B fighter jet, with an award for about 14 of the “stealth” warplanes due in the next few weeks.
And partner Turkey, F-35A potential, which was put off by the unfavorable test report a year ago, and has delayed a decision until this month, also will be unimpressed (again). Plus Turkey has serous internal problems involving corruption on procurement programs, so it is twice shy.
Presser was already out a week ago stating hype of UK ordering 14 F-35s. That would be a big, mistake, by not letting the USMC doing the hard-yards on STOVL via a year or so of IOC.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the UK got leaned on real hard. The JPO is trying to put together LRIP-8 including 16 foreign buys. That includes 4 Japan, 4 Italy, 2 Norway, 2 Israel & 4 UK. So now they not only need UK's 4 but more because Japan and Italy may not come through.
DeleteThe latest news from Her Majesty's Navy at Pax River: --news--
On the tarmac at Pax River – home of the US Marine Corps’ test pilots – PO(AH) ‘Knocker’ White tries out a natty piece of kit to move the Royal Navy’s next-generation jump jet. . . A team of Royal Navy and RAF engineers have been working at Pax River . . . for several years as they learn how to maintain the £120m [$200m] stealthy strike fighter, which will replace the Harrier. . . A team of Royal Navy and RAF engineers have been working at Pax River – officially US Naval Air Station Patuxent River – about 60 miles outside Washington for several years as they learn how to maintain the £120m [$200m] stealthy strike fighter, which will replace the Harrier. . ."At 23 tonnes, the F35 is three times heavier than the legendary British jet it replaces."
That dupe was for emphasis, also because I screwed up. Sorry.
DeleteWell, the UK needs to buy some in order to keep receiving orders for its suppliers. The way F-35 industrial participation program works is that any country that buys the F-35 will have a portion of that purchase money going into the offset account, which can be tabbed by the purchasing country's suppliers to supply approved parts to the F-35 program.
DeleteNo purchase = No parts supply business
Plus Britain's defence secretary Philip Hammond is scheduled to visit Washington on February 4-6. Lockheed will furnish the hospitality suite, I betcha.
DeleteVertical Short Take-Off & Landing... has never had an easy go of it and technology has always been playing catch-up with it. I saw this Article splashed on the main page of Yahoo and thought of Sol {and his unmitigated love for the aircraft - tell us how you really feel Sol - ;)}
ReplyDeleteSomehow... this aircraft seems fine, until you realize that no pilot could ever control it manually. The next VSTOL will probably be a drone without a pilot anyways.
No Software - No Fly.