Thanks for the idea Eric!
via Reuters.
Eric asked the question of why the UK would press ahead with the F-35 buy now instead of letting the USMC do the heavy lifting of getting the STOVL model sorted out.
My answer is simple.
The UK is just like everyone. They're scared shitless about the cost of the plane.
They need it to be affordable. They're buying into the Lockheed Martin talking points that the price will come down once they get production numbers up. The problem? Congress didn't play ball. Instead of 36 airframes (as requested by the Pentagon) they're giving 29. So what is the UK doing?
Making up for cut airframes.
They're hoping against all that is reasonable that they can finally bend the cost curve if they just keep pushing.
It reminds me of the old Bush line of staying the course. Staying the course though is a very bad idea...especially when you're walking into disaster.
Custer stayed the course -- even when his scouts told him about the massive number of Indians he was facing ---at the cost of his command.
The stakes are higher with the F-35 though. Staying the course with this airplane could cost the security of several nations.
via Reuters.
(Reuters) - Britain may announce an order for 14 Lockheed Martin-built F-35 super-stealth jets as early as next week, three sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.Read it here.
The so called 'Main Gate 4' order, for the F-35 B vertical take-off variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, would mark the Britain's first firm F-35 purchase since it committed to buying 48 planes in 2012.
Eric asked the question of why the UK would press ahead with the F-35 buy now instead of letting the USMC do the heavy lifting of getting the STOVL model sorted out.
My answer is simple.
The UK is just like everyone. They're scared shitless about the cost of the plane.
They need it to be affordable. They're buying into the Lockheed Martin talking points that the price will come down once they get production numbers up. The problem? Congress didn't play ball. Instead of 36 airframes (as requested by the Pentagon) they're giving 29. So what is the UK doing?
Making up for cut airframes.
They're hoping against all that is reasonable that they can finally bend the cost curve if they just keep pushing.
It reminds me of the old Bush line of staying the course. Staying the course though is a very bad idea...especially when you're walking into disaster.
Custer stayed the course -- even when his scouts told him about the massive number of Indians he was facing ---at the cost of his command.
The stakes are higher with the F-35 though. Staying the course with this airplane could cost the security of several nations.
Sol, any European nation that cuts it's military is doing it because they don't WANT a military anymore.
ReplyDeleteThey all have the cash for one, as the Cold War showed.
The Dutch had a friggen aircraft carrier and a submarine force.
Weapons systems are NOT their primary cost, it is PERSONNEL, which is 75% of Belgian military expenditures.
i'm getting a little tired of that argument.
ReplyDeletethe Netherlands have a small, efficient force. the F-35 is throwing that out of whack. the plane just costs too fucking much. Poland is the same. difference? they're not buying F-35's so they can afford to increase defense spending. S. Korea has an efficient military. they wanted X number of F-35's but couldn't buy the whole lot so now they're doing something different. the problem. the plane costs too fucking much.
finally lets talk Singapore. they're smart. real smart. have they bought the F-35 yet? no. the reason? the plane costs too fucking much.
are you getting the force of connection here?
While it is likely the MOD would prefer to delay the purchase until the costs of the F-35 have been reduced, the aircraft carrier is going to be floated out this year and will be operational by 2017 after she has been fitted out and the sea trails have been completed.
ReplyDeleteThe MOD likely wishes to start operations with the F-35 as soon as the carrier is operational so that they can get personnel fully trained to work with it and if they do order now the deliveries should be completed by the end 2017?. Which would coincide with the carrier delivery and by then the marines should have sorted most of the problems with operating F-35 since their IOC is in 2015 I believe. But any further orders will certainly be delayed until F-35 unit prices have stabilized and the decisions of the 2015 SDSR are announced, which will confirm if will order any additional F-35's and how many will be ordered.
Also do remember that currently the UK lacks any carrier capability and it's best to fill that cap as quickly as possible.
UK is in the same position the US is: defense budgets are 'use it or lose it' and you can always get money to fix a defective product you already have but you may never get the money to buy a good product later. These are huge drivers to buy as many f-35s as possible as fast as possible, regardless of cost or risk.
ReplyDeleteLike so many other things, the JSF idiots never thought through what would happen when they succeeded in making the program too big to fail. At this point the USAF and USMC are completely committed even if privately they now view the whole process as a mistake. It is far too late for them or the UK, which made a hot mess out of catobar vs VTOL for their carriers, to go back.