"What Is The F-35 Actually Supposed To Do?" Topic

"The F-35 Lighting II is the most expensive weapons program in the history of the human race, and production is now being kicked into high gear. The main Lockheed Martin factory for the F-35, located in Fort Worth, Texas, is beginning the long ramp-up to get to full-scale production, which is expected by 2019. The F-35 is supposed to replace in whole or in part a large number of different aircraft types and is intended to operate for at least 50 years.

So, naturally, one of the very first things people want to know is whether or not the plane is any damned good. The US taxpayer is footing a bill that, over the next several decades, will run several hundred billion dollars and involve buying a couple thousand aircraft, and critics have complained that the jack-of-all-trades F-35 is a master of none.

In a bid to get a handle on that, VICE News went to Naval Air Station Patuxent River (a.k.a. Pax River) in Maryland to talk to some F-35 test pilots and get a fundamental grip on why and how the plane will be used. The Navy is the second-biggest customer of the plane, after the US Air Force and before the Marines and several allied nations. It plans to replace most of its F-18 Hornets with it…"

Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

Make bucket loads of money for the manufacturer and their lobbyists……

I'm still skeptical about the F-35 but it is an interesting article.

and Mako11 for the win.

Secure a position on the board of directors for a coule of air force generals?

They are intended to replace the aging fleet of Cougars, Panthers, Sabres and other early jets on display at various parks, monuments and other public areas.

I remember climbing on this one as a kid back when it was playground equipment.

it is supposed to be all things to all services & is destine to fail in everything but making lots of money for Lockheed and its shareholders

Make bucket loads of money for the manufacturer and their lobbyists

making lots of money for Lockheed and its shareholders

The F-35 only epitomizes the greedy and corrupt capitalist American Way to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Well a good start would be to fly, but it seems to be having serious teething problems. Thankfully profits and dividends are not performance based or this project could have been a real disaster. But looking at the bright side, with the laboratory discovery/detection of gravity waves this year maybe it won't have to fly after all.
Cheers.
Rod Robertson

Glad you enjoyed the article my friend!.

Amicalement
Armand

"The Captain" makes a interesting point as well, in addition to lining the pockets of other decision-makers too…….

"The F-35 only epitomizes the greedy and corrupt capitalist American Way to make the rich richer and the poor poorer"

I'm old enough to remember the same things being said about the M1, Bradley, Osprey, Tomahawk, and B1.

I'm going to be a little different and see how it works before I accuse the people who provide our troops with the weapons they need to defend us, of malfeasance.

Fly, I suppose. Sometimes it does that. Oh, and make a killing (pun intended) for all the investors….

The F-35 was designed by what was in effect a committee. Various major components were handed out to a wide variety of manufacturers which led to the long laundry list of woe that should have killed this fiasco way back when. The F-35 program reminds me of the line that, "The camel was a horse designed by a committee.".

"I'm going to be a little different and see how it works before I accuse the people who provide our troops with the weapons they need to defend us, of malfeasance".

A decade or so of delay certainly makes it pretty easy for me to accuse them of that, while we're forking over truckloads of cash to the manufacturers, especially since we're told it'll be another 6+ years before the software code for the guns is written, assuming that gets completed on time (which it won't – software is almost always released late).

For more on the project, here's a good overview:

link

Again, I've heard all this before. Anyone think the M1, Bradley, Osprey, Tomahawk, or B1 are failures designed solely to make money for the people who build them?

All military gear is made to make a profit. We do not have a government controlled arms industry. Lockheed is going to make a ton of money on the F-35. The development cost will probably exceed the total of the purchase of the aircraft. I believe I hear one trillion has been spent on development. Two thousand F-35's are probably going to run around $300 USD billion dollars. Something is just not right with that picture. Sad part is China will probably get the F-35 technology for a few million dollars.

Part of the problem, is the F-35 is supposed to be an all in one plane. That cannot be done and still achieve the mastery in certain areas. We need a dedicated CAS aircraft that is cheaper than $113 USD million dollars. Heck, even $80 USD million is too much for a CAS aircraft. Unless the F-35 is superior to the F-22 we should have stayed with the F-22.