Threats of cuts to the F-35 program must be real...we're seeing a full court press to save it!

via Real Clear Defense.

The JSF has already demonstrated that it has the potential to totally change the balance of air power vis-à-vis potential U.S. adversaries. Although there is a misperception that the JSF is primarily intended for air-to-ground missions, its air-to-air capabilities are superb. In last year’s Red Flag combat exercises, the F-35 scored a stunning 20-1 kill ration. According to one experienced Air Force pilot, the F-35 totally dominates fourth generation aircraft:

The airplane has unbelievable maneuvering characteristics that make it completely undefeatable in an air-to-air environment. So if it's a long-range contact, you'll never see me and you'll die, and if it's within visual-range contact you'll see me and you're gonna die and you're gonna die very quickly.

As exercises and war games have demonstrated, an F-35 force can defeat several times its numbers of fourth-generation aircraft, including our own. In its role as a sensor and electronic warfare platform, the JSF can enhance the effectiveness of those same fourth-generation aircraft. A Norwegian Air Force pilot with much experience in the F-16 flew the F-35 and declared in a report to his government that “this is an airplane that allows me to be more forward and aggressive than I could ever be in an F-16.”

The JSF is much more than just a fighter. The sensors, avionics and other electronic systems on the relatively few F-35s in operation are already radically altering the way militaries around the world, including our own, think about air operations. Simply put, the F-35 makes everything a military does in the air better.

Wow.

Goure is really pouring it on in the above passage isn't he?  Makes you wonder why I would say that we're seeing a full court press to save the F-35 doesn't it?

Well wait till you check out the next part...

 There are reports circulating that the U.S. Air Force is considering major cuts to its planned procurement of 1,760 F-35As. This would be a colossal blunder. The F-35 is too good for the Air Force (as well as the Navy and Marine Corps) to not acquire their full allotment. If anything, the Air Force should increase its annual procurements to more rapidly improve its warfighting capabilities and lower unit costs.

The story is here. 

So why do I say we're seeing the full court press?

This has to be the third story that I've seen that whines about reports of major cuts coming to the F-35 program.

This is becoming goofy.

Trying to look at this logically the proponents of the airplane are painting themselves into a corner.

*  If the plane is so good that its "undefeatable in air to air combat" ... if it has demonstrated a "20-1 kill ratio" then cuts could be justified on efficiency grounds alone!  If you can achieve the same effects with fewer units then that's a win isn't it?

Then we have the contrarian argument.

*  The USAF knows the reality of the F-35, not the advertising but the reality. The fact is that the critics were right...the exercises were staged, the plane is a dog and because its taken so long to get into service it's essentially become obsolete before it enters REAL service (not the bullshit IOC that the USMC and USAF declared).

At the end of the day we'll know one day.  One thing is obvious.  Insiders are nervous about those reports of cuts.  They even have the number of planes on the chopping blocks.

People like Deptula and Thompson are clued in.

They wouldn't be squawking if there wasn't danger to their favorite pet program!

Personally I couldn't be happier!