F-35 News. Australian media finally asking questions...

via The Australian.

A host of problems are still troubling Australia’s F-35 strike fighter, including structural flaws, software and weapon sight glitches, humidity impacts and even the connectivity of laptops used for maintenance.

The issues are among dozens of problems identified in a US milit­ary test and evaluation report about the stealth aircraft — 72 of which Australia has ordered from the US at a cost of about $100 million each.

Defence confirmed earlier this month that some of the issues were yet to be fixed and may not even be resolved until 2022 — two years after the F-35A planes are supposed to achieve initial operating capability in Australia.

Then this.

 But developing the hi-tech aircraft from scratch has proved costly and problematic.

Earlier this year, the US milit­ary’s operational test and evalua­tion director Mike Gilmore released his annual report on the aircraft, finding fault with numerous aspects of its development, ­including everything from targeting problems to structural joints failing.

One area of concern was the plane’s “electro-optical targeting system”, or EOTS.

The system uses sensors on the aircraft and computers feeding targets to the pilot’s hi-tech ­helmet visor display.

Dr Gilmore’s report noted that the system was affected by “high humidity”, which caused pilots to have to fly closer to targets than desired. He also stated that the system was “inferior to legacy ­systems”.

Some of Australia’s F-35As are due to be deployed to the Northern Territory, which experiences high levels of humidity during the wet season from about December to March.

However, Defence says it is not concerned about the issue as ­enhancements to improve the EOTS performance were planned for delivery in 2022 as part of the “follow-on” modernisation prog­ram. The first aircraft in Australia are supposed to be at initial operating capability by 2020.

Story here.

This is how it begins.  You support the program but then you start asking questions.  The program replies with insanity or unmitigated bullshit and those questions start becoming shouts.

It happened to me and it has happened to others.  Now its happening to the Australian media.

The problem?  I've accused the program supporters of lying.  But what if they actually believe all this?  What if they think that after all these years and putting into production an airplane that will never meet performance goals set in 2009, that it'll still be a world beater?

I think when reality hits heads will explode.  Before that reality is accepted the blame, anger and refusal to accept the truth will have those people lashing out.  My point?  The F-35 has already been nasty, but I think it will get worse before this program is finally killed.