yeah i had a laugh at all the F-35 they show on deck and below. they MIGHT be able to afford half of those.
have you noticed that the buy of the F-35 by the Brits has been delayed? we got news earlier this year that them buying it was imminent and we haven't heard a word since.
Missing is the graphic of them changing the $27M-each F-35B STOVL motor inside the hanger deck. Like many other things in the program: yet to be proven.
They 'might' be able to afford 11 Sol? Cause I count 22 in those pics.
The UK's first batch is to be 14 aircraft and yes Eric it is truly a marvel of insight that you are able to point out that many things remain to be achieved in this program. I do wonder why you find that noteworthy however when in the next breath you won't hesitate to tell us that this program is roughly only 50% of the way through it's development...
Because what else is there to do besides restate the obvious when you're hoping for a program to fail?
Changing out the engine on a Harrier wasn't the easiest task and took eight hours, yet they managed to do it on ships. Now I'm supposed to believe that nobody at Lockheed thought "wait a minute, somebody might need to change the engine" and thus it can't be done.
A country willing and able to spend over $10 billion on two state of the art carriers ought to be able to afford a full complement of F-35Bs. A country that also spent around $62 billion on the Eurofighter program. This is the same Royal Navy that once ruled the world's oceans but maybe the people no longer care about important stuff like national security these days.
Great Lockheed Martin talking points there Jason. Funny how those with all the alleged special program access, get it wrong time and again, for years. Any other faith-based F-35 fan items you need to add? Maybe some PowerPoint slides?
Nuke, that is also a faith-based argument. You are aware that to-date, there are no credible, working mission systems without major faults, years after the promises. Interesting you bring up the Eurofighter. To-date, it brings much more warfighting value to the UK than the Just So Failed ever will. Consider also that one of those dedicated helicopter carriers will be parked. And as the grand entitlement society there is going, I suspect that the idea of having two of them parked isn't that far off. After all, they are only floating helo-pads.
They'll fit them eventually, the UK has it's own EMALS system in the works (Converteam EMCAT) and once both are in commission they'll get the cats fitted at some point, we probably won't have any planes that need them anyway but that's just Britain for you.
And a couple of years ago many were saying the same thing about the Eurofighter being a failure. History has a habit of repeating itself with many fighter programs it seems. When was the last time the media didn't find fault in a fighter design?
Yes I have faith that there are some competent people working at Lockheed and in the federal government who can make this work, and I see no reason from a design perspective it can't be made to work at an affordable, yet realistic, cost. If the government can't negotiate a decent contract with Lockheed they have only themselves to blame. We've made a lot of impressive and capable fighters in the past and there is no reason we can't do it again here.
With emphasis on past. Given the history of the program, the last sentence doesn't seem to apply almost 12 years after contract award. http://ericpalmer.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/2003-schedule.jpg?w=630&h=472
Here is a complete CGI video by German TV about this new carrier and F-35 in action: http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/video/2132444/Flugzeugtraeger-zu-gross-fuer-den-Hafen#/beitrag/video/2132444/Flugzeugtraeger-zu-gross-fuer-den-Hafen Two thinks were mentioned: The carrier is to big for current harbour and the city needs a bigger power plant to supply the ship.
If they had gone with cats and traps, they could have bought used F-18s as a budget interim fighter, and then threatened to go full F/A-18 superhornet if lockheed didn't keep the price down on F-35. Two-seater B models would have given them trainers that could also do allweather combat. Now they're stuck waiting on a one seat plane that doesn't quite fully exist.
The biggest, dedicated helicopter carrier.
ReplyDeleteyeah i had a laugh at all the F-35 they show on deck and below. they MIGHT be able to afford half of those.
Deletehave you noticed that the buy of the F-35 by the Brits has been delayed? we got news earlier this year that them buying it was imminent and we haven't heard a word since.
Missing is the graphic of them changing the $27M-each F-35B STOVL motor inside the hanger deck. Like many other things in the program: yet to be proven.
ReplyDeleteThey 'might' be able to afford 11 Sol? Cause I count 22 in those pics.
ReplyDeleteThe UK's first batch is to be 14 aircraft and yes Eric it is truly a marvel of insight that you are able to point out that many things remain to be achieved in this program. I do wonder why you find that noteworthy however when in the next breath you won't hesitate to tell us that this program is roughly only 50% of the way through it's development...
this program has wasted more than 3 times as much money as the EFV and is more than 3 times later in its development.
DeleteBecause what else is there to do besides restate the obvious when you're hoping for a program to fail?
DeleteChanging out the engine on a Harrier wasn't the easiest task and took eight hours, yet they managed to do it on ships. Now I'm supposed to believe that nobody at Lockheed thought "wait a minute, somebody might need to change the engine" and thus it can't be done.
A country willing and able to spend over $10 billion on two state of the art carriers ought to be able to afford a full complement of F-35Bs. A country that also spent around $62 billion on the Eurofighter program. This is the same Royal Navy that once ruled the world's oceans but maybe the people no longer care about important stuff like national security these days.
Great Lockheed Martin talking points there Jason. Funny how those with all the alleged special program access, get it wrong time and again, for years. Any other faith-based F-35 fan items you need to add? Maybe some PowerPoint slides?
DeleteNuke, that is also a faith-based argument. You are aware that to-date, there are no credible, working mission systems without major faults, years after the promises. Interesting you bring up the Eurofighter. To-date, it brings much more warfighting value to the UK than the Just So Failed ever will. Consider also that one of those dedicated helicopter carriers will be parked. And as the grand entitlement society there is going, I suspect that the idea of having two of them parked isn't that far off. After all, they are only floating helo-pads.
DeleteShould have gone with Cats and traps. Then the carrier would be viable for decades.
ReplyDeleteThey'll fit them eventually, the UK has it's own EMALS system in the works (Converteam EMCAT) and once both are in commission they'll get the cats fitted at some point, we probably won't have any planes that need them anyway but that's just Britain for you.
DeleteAnd a couple of years ago many were saying the same thing about the Eurofighter being a failure. History has a habit of repeating itself with many fighter programs it seems. When was the last time the media didn't find fault in a fighter design?
ReplyDeleteYes I have faith that there are some competent people working at Lockheed and in the federal government who can make this work, and I see no reason from a design perspective it can't be made to work at an affordable, yet realistic, cost. If the government can't negotiate a decent contract with Lockheed they have only themselves to blame. We've made a lot of impressive and capable fighters in the past and there is no reason we can't do it again here.
With emphasis on past. Given the history of the program, the last sentence doesn't seem to apply almost 12 years after contract award. http://ericpalmer.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/2003-schedule.jpg?w=630&h=472
DeleteHere is a complete CGI video by German TV about this new carrier and F-35 in action:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/video/2132444/Flugzeugtraeger-zu-gross-fuer-den-Hafen#/beitrag/video/2132444/Flugzeugtraeger-zu-gross-fuer-den-Hafen
Two thinks were mentioned:
The carrier is to big for current harbour and the city needs a bigger power plant to supply the ship.
If they had gone with cats and traps, they could have bought used F-18s as a budget interim fighter, and then threatened to go full F/A-18 superhornet if lockheed didn't keep the price down on F-35. Two-seater B models would have given them trainers that could also do allweather combat. Now they're stuck waiting on a one seat plane that doesn't quite fully exist.
ReplyDelete