via USNI NEWS...
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has ordered additional inspections of F135 engines installed across the roughly 104 aircraft strong F-35 fleet. That includes all three variants flying with the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Pratt & Whitney officials said the company is cooperating with the investigation.The plane suffered extensive damage and may be considered a write-off.
“We are working closely with the Air Force Safety Investigation Board to determine root cause and inspect all engines in the fleet. Safety is our top priority,” company spokesman Matthew Bates told USNI News on Monday. “Since the incident is the subject of an investigation it is inappropriate to comment further.”
The Air Force has classified the damage to the stricken F-35A as a Class A incident—where the cost estimates for repairs or write-offs exceeds $2 million.
USNI News understands that the F-35A in question suffered extensive damage and may be considered a write-off.
Amazing.
And yet the USMC continues with the fiction that the plane will show up to airshows in Europe.
How much of an ass kisser do you have to be to think that this is a good idea? How much of a sycophant are you to not state that we need to pullback from the edge and announce that we're not going?
If you want to see everything that is wrong with the modern day Marine Corps look no further than the F-35. Tribalism is one thing, but moronic behavior is something else entirely. This is insane.
Meh. The second F-14 crashed on approach. We'll see.
ReplyDeletemeh? this plane was preparing for takeoff and burned up on the runway! thats a bit different i would think. much more serious!
DeleteMeh too... The first F-14 crashed on take off of its first ever flight!
DeleteI think it still hold the record for total losses of all modern jets (1970+) during testing. A-10, F-14, F-15, F-16, F-117, F-18, F-22 and F-35 and our EU friends. You will note the lack of the 1961 vintage Harrier family. It would not be fair: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Harrier_Jump_Jet_family_losses
ok lets play that game.
Deletemeh?
bullshit.
name one other program that was under development this long. name one other program that has spent this much money to not have an airplane in operation. name one other program that will deliver a jet that will be obsolete before it enters service.
if you want to play the meh" thing then you're having to overlook alot of the F-35's failings....but F-35 supporters seem to have that art form down.
B-1 Bomber. AKA AMSA, First flight December 1974, Introduction 1 October 1986..... America Most Studied Aircraft?
DeleteAs far as being "Obsolete", every new airplane we buy.
Your favorite the Super Hornet started full Prod in 1998 and by 1999 it entered service.
The Block 2 modernization we entered into prod in 2004 and service in 2005. New radar, new Cockpit, new/upgrade communications, improved EW systems and on and on.....
The Block 3 modernization program started in 2008 it was needed to support the AIM-9X, JHMCS and replace some parts that had already gone our of production.
In the F-35 world this is called "Spiral Development", as the air frames go to overhaul they are upgraded to the latest block or partial black. The block 1 do not have AESA, and the Navy has not had the money to replace all the original radars with an AESA. So all the Block 1 birds are only partially upgraded to Block 1+ as the full Block 2 would include the new radar. In the good old days these would have been issued new letters designation.
Think the F-4C to F-4N upgrade. In reality Block 1 is the E/F, the Block 2 should be the G/H and Block 3 is limited enough as it is mostly software will small hardware changes. But to do that congress gets involved, if you call it a new "block" then congress is minimally involved.
The Navy pulled that stunt with the "Super Hornet" to begin with. They called it an upgrade, and in reality it is an entirely new design. Even the gun is not interchangeable with the A-D's, the tires cannot be swapped between them. Out side of a few mill spec radios and hardware like bolts, nothing interchanges.
The Air Force pulled the same stunt with the F-16. The F-16 C/D's are actually 3 distinct models. The F-16 25/30/32 are almost Identical, original the 30/32 could use targeting pods the 25 (1984) could not. The next lot were the F-16 Block 40/42 (1988), these aircraft had an entirely new avionics, including the radar and cockpit. The F-16 block 50 (1991) had yet an entire new generation of avionics and major structural changes from any previous F-16. So that like the Super Hornet you cannot swap the wheels and tires with the previous models Block 0 to 40/42. The USAF is working on a Conman Cockpit upgrade for the block 40/50 to ease support.
And in the last 30 year the entire fleet of F-16s and F-18s has gone though upgrades continuously to add new capabilities like the JDAM, AIM-120 and AIM-9X. Since the AIM-120 did not even exist when they were made. Some upgrades are software, some are hardware. The AIM-120 needed hardware changes, the AIM-9X also needed hardware to use the off bore-site capabilities.
Each block on these aircraft are so different that when they create squadrons they use only 1 block per squadron.
As to being obsolete, you will note I did not list a Block 0 F/A-18 E/F. That had to be upgraded from Block 0 to Block1 during the time it took to test the new Hornet 1995 to 1998 production orders. As the parts ordered in 1992 and 1993 were no longer made. The Military is leveraging PC technology, and as the manufactures move on to new chips the DOD will bulk by the old one for stock. But when the run out, upgrade time. PC chips do not stay in production for 10 to 20 years, so every aircraft we get is obsolete.
"name one other program that was under development this long. name one other program that has spent this much money to not have an airplane in operation." - I will give you two: Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon!
DeleteSadly this is the whole problem with the F-35 program. This wasn't the 2nd plane. If it was then no big deal - pre-production prototype. I'm guessing it wasn't even the 5th plane or the 10th plane. How many are now built or in production? And how many of those will ultimately prove to be effectivley worthless?
ReplyDeleteI guess the F-35 is the most efficient way to covert fuel into noise or to burn taxpayer's money.
ReplyDelete