We're about to see the full ramifications of the SUPER EXPENSIVE F-35 on the defense budget soon.
It occurs to me that one airplane will determine the success of our armed forces and our place in the world for the foreseeable future.
Consider this.
* The US Army is having to cut Brigades, reorganize its aviation and shed personnel to a rate that their Chief is now stating publicly that its dangerous.
* The USMC is cutting Battalions, shedding squadrons and having to make adhoc units just to justify this airplane while at the same time delaying the production of a much needed replacement for the AAV.
* The US Navy is considering cutting aircraft carriers, is definitely cutting squadrons and is in ship building pain because this plane is being forced on them.
* The USAF is cutting squadrons, canceling upgrades to legacy fighters, tossing away its premier air support airplane and essentially betting its future on an airplane that is not a good fighter, is a mediocre (at best) close air support platform, is insanely expensive all in the belief that its poor stealth and information dominance will carry the day against airplanes that are faster, fly higher, have bigger AESA arrays, fly farther and essentially get the same information just through different means.
These bastards better be right or we're screwed for a generation.
Lockheed Martin shares, promises of jobs after they retire and that big golden parachute that they're hoping for better be worth the price they're gonna pay if they're wrong.
If they're wrong and I think they are, they'll feel lucky to only be cursed, vilified and called traitors.
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ReplyDeleteForgot the linky sorry
ReplyDeletehttp://www.arrse.co.uk/royal-navy/178170-cvf-carrier-strike-thread-291.html#post5577424
Operation: RICO STATUTE.
ReplyDeleteThe USAF is seriously cutting flying time too, so guys who want to fly are jumping to the commercial sector. With huge increases in civilian plane purchases in the Gulf area they need many more pilots to fly them. (China too, but I guess that's out.)
ReplyDeleteThe Army can't justify its size. The other services should jump on that fact (like the Army is jumping on the Guard).
ReplyDeleteThe Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is coming. The QDR is a legislatively-mandated (USC 10, Sec. 118 (a)) review of Department of Defense (DoD) strategy and priorities.
ReplyDeleteKey security challenges in to 2010 QDR included violent extremist movements, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, rising powers with sophisticated weapons, failed or failing states, and increasing encroachment across the global commons (air, sea, space, cyberspace).
Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Christine Fox, speaking to a naval conference in San Diego: "The military must get smaller over the next five years," she said. "It is not an ideal course of action. It contains real risks. ... But given current realities, it is the only plausible way to generate the savings necessary to adequately fund training, maintenance, and sustain the military's technological superiority for the next generation."
Rep. Randy Forbes, who takes an intense interest in military matters, may have gotten a whiff of the new QDR as 'business as usual' and so he sent a letter to SecDef Hagel which you can read here.
ReplyDeletehttp://1.usa.gov/1g3LEoz
The F-35 is it any good? Taking away the extreme costs, delays and technical glitches. If it was on budget and on time. Would it be worth it?
ReplyDeleteItaly's looking at halving its order down to 45. The UK will likely mothball the HMS Prince of Wales carrier before it even sees service. Canada and Denmark have hit the reset button. Turkey's still sour over tech transfer. Everybody else is either stalling or reducing their orders.
ReplyDeleteForeign sales are not going to be enough to meet sales targets.
Even US sales aren't set in stone. The USN asked for a 3 year delay. The USAF has a history of demanding HUGE numbers but only seeing a fraction of those due to budget cuts and development issues (F-22, B-1, B-2, etc).
One wonders why the USAF needs so many F-35s. 1,763 is substantially more than the current fleet of F-16s, A-10s, and F-15s it's meant to replace. It's also way more than the Russian and Chinese fighter fleet combined.
Orders are going to be cut. Price is going to go up. The F-35 won't die in a "Death Spiral" but will limp along in a "Zombie Shuffle". There's too much invested at this point.
http://bestfighter4canada.blogspot.com/2014/02/will-there-be-death-spiral-for-f-35.html
http://www.jameshasik.com/weblog/2013/04/how-the-us-may-buy-at-most-750-f-35s.html
The most expensive weapons system ever deserves a shot on 60 Minutes and it's getting it Sunday.
ReplyDelete"In the rush to stay ahead of China and Russia, the Pentagon started buying the F-35 before testing it, breaking the traditional “fly-before-you-buy” rule of weapons acquisition. Now taxpayers are paying the price for mistakes that weren’t caught before production began. A Pentagon document obtained by 60 Minutes catalogues the “flawed . . . assumptions” and “unrealistic . . . estimates” that led to a $163 billion cost overrun on what was already the highest priced weapons system in history. David Martin reports on the problem-plagued program and the battles the Pentagon has fought with the plane’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, to bring the costs under control. He also gets a firsthand look at some of the plane’s game-changing technology for a story to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. ET/PT."