F-14D

[ngreenaway]

"Its too bad he wasnt in a position to cancel the f-35"

 

 

Pfft...

 

Stop believing the anti-hype :). The F35 is a bad mamma-jamma. There have been a few issues sure... It's expensive... But it works. VERY well ;).

 

The anti-hype is a pesky little thing called reality. the f-35 issues still remain, its expensive and still doesnt work.

[Kev2go]

hmmm...heard this one before

 

 

 

 

Sorry, muchacho, but your plane still sucks. We've hitched our cart to the wrong horse with this one and no "fan boy-ism" is going to change that. We shouldve cancelled while we were ahead.

 

Its boondoggle days are still with us and probably always will be

 

https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/f-35-alis-open-deficiencies-grow-to-4700-over-two-years/137345.article F-35 ALIS open deficiencies grow to 4,700 over past two years FlightGlobal 17 March 2020

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/f35-has-hundreds-design-flaws-pentagon-doesnt-plan-to-fix-2020-3 The F-35 still has hundreds of design flaws, and there's 'no planned correction' for more than 150 of them Mar 13, 2020 Business insider

 

https://www.pogo.org/investigation/2020/03/f-35-design-flaws-mounting-new-document-shows/ F-35 Design Flaws Mounting, New Document Shows MARCH 11, 2020 Project for government oversight

 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/03/20/watchdog-pentagon-needs-answer-questions-new-f-35-logistics-system.html Watchdog: Pentagon Needs to Answer Questions on New F-35 Logistics System military.com 20 Mar 2020

 

https://www.janes.com/article/95042/f-35-programme-reduces-remaining-sdd-capability-requirements-but-bulkhead-issue-remains F-35 programme reduces remaining SDD capability requirements, but bulkhead issue remains Janes.com 23 March 2020

 

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/nearly-all-f-35-jet-engines-ordered-last-year-arrived-late-1.621134 Nearly all F-35 jet engines ordered last year arrived late Stars&Stripes March 3, 2020

 

https://www.airforcemag.com/f-35-full-rate-production-may-slip-again/ F-35 Full-Rate Production May Slip Again AirForce Magazine 4 March 2020

 

https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2020/03/uncorrected-design-flaws-cyber-vulnerabilities-and-unreliability-plague-the-f-35-program/ Uncorrected Design Flaws, Cyber-Vulnerabilities, and Unreliability Plague the F-35 Program Project on Government Oversight

 

"The gun for the Air Force’s version not only can’t shoot straight, but breaks the aircraft when fired.

There have been no appreciable improvements in the program’s overall reliability since 2016.

The entire F-35 system remains vulnerable to cyber threats.

The simulation facility necessary to fully test the aircraft and train pilots remains unfinished."

 

 

 

The SU-25 can as well. the fact is what makes a good CAS aircraft makes a crummy fighter and vice versa. Multi-role can only get you so far, but it wont ever produce something as good as an airframe specifically made for that role

 

"sigh"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yea pierre sprey is something special alright

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry to say but you are very wrong in thinking the F35 is a crap plane. You have not taken the liberty of informing yourself adequately of the present day avionics technologies, applications of stealth, or how modern air combat actually works, and what advantages a platform means.

 

 

Even a Russian defense analyst thought it was going to be good and the bad press was unwarranted, even before it entered operational service

 

 

 

 

IF stealth wasn't an advantageous capability and just a waste of money then other nations outside of USA wouldn't want to be building thier own.

 

 

Last time i checked no prior generation fighter that USA fields can match the F35 in:

 

1. Situational awareness

2. Computational power

3. Radar Absorbent Material

4. Lowest RCS Among Fighters (B-2 RCS is very classified, I'm not fit to make a judgement of whether the F-35 is the world's stealthiest, and X-band and Ku Band remain proliferated)

5. Networking capability ( more network centric than past fighters)

6. Cyber warfare capability (If I'm not wrong this is the 1st, at least serial production fighter jet w/ inbuilt cyber warfare abilities. This is crucial as it'll allow the F-35 to contest not only the conventional domain of the air, but the unconventional domain of cyberspace)

 

 

This is how in reality Air combat actually works, and how it has changed over the years.

 

 

https://csbaonline.org/uploads/documents/Air-to-Air-Report-.pdf

 

 

 

Further expanding on the above Heres exactly why Stealth matters and why the F35 is the best overall fighter in its class. Maybe all this this will help you comprehend how much air warfare has changed, and that the days of dumb bombing and Top gun Esque Gunfights are a thing of hollywood ( and a thing of the past)

 

 

 

 

 

On top of all that Red flag exercises prove just how F35 blows any other platform out of the water.

 

https://www.f35.com/news/detail/f-35a-records-20-to-1-kill-ratio-at-red-flag-exercise

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-f-35-tore-apart-fourth-gen-fighters-in-major-combat-exercise-usaf-2019-2

 

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/02/20/air-force-chief-defends-f-35a-against-complaints-boasting-kills-at-red-flag/

 

https://theaviationist.com/2019/02/16/the-first-reports-of-how-the-f-35-strutted-its-stuff-in-dogfights-against-aggressors-at-red-flag-are-starting-to-emerge/

 

Iff you take off your rose tinted glasses perhaps you might just recall that the all teen fighters had their share of problems in development, They were not perfect in development or first years of operation either. F14 engine flameouts, F16's in testing killed some of their pilots. Logistical issues for the F15A;s, early APG63 had teething issue and was underdeveloped, F/A18 being overdue in IOC adoption, and going through countless trials and tribulations from its first flight to adoption, The realization that F/A18 Airframes would start cracking earlier than expected ( lex fences installation by the late 80s), or perhaps how the F/A18's flight control issues killing the pilots in certain instances ( unrecoverable falling leaf ) was not finally solved until the 2000's, the list goes on.

 

AS much as the F35 was a failure in terms of Cost and time management during development, It is a success in terms of technology developed during the program, and certainly a overall export success given it not only adopted by the 3 branches of the US military but adopted by Nato and countless non partner states.

 

 

Its current capabilities, and its future potential to further enhance them far outweighs any negatives pertaining to development, or any early life issues that will probably eventually be solved like any prior aircraft before it.

Edited April 2, 2020 by Kev2go

[Kev2go]

Trust me, old Airframe Legacy Hornets spent more time in hangers than you realize, there's a reasom the USMC ran out of parts and there's a reason the USN did the rapid retirement of the legacy hornets.

 

The F/A-18C+ Program was more the a Service Life Extension.

 

They completely stripped the airframes of Everything, inspected them very strictly, and rebuilt them to the C+ standard, which replaced the entire electronics and hydrualics systems as well as most of the mechanical linkange and the entire cockpit.

 

USN could afford to retire thier legacy Hornets becuase they didn't need them. They were already gradually phasing out legaacies for quite some time. The already had the super hornet for more than a decade by the time the last active duty legacy squadron was retired.

 

Today they now have F35C's entering operational use. With Super Hornets, and now F35's there is no point for the navy to have kept legacy hornet in active duty service. They stopped upgrading after a certain point. An F/A18C from 2018 is no different in avionics from an F/A18C from 2005. ONly things that changed were software updates and some weapons stuff. AS the term "l;egacy" implies. An old platform that is no longer being updated. ANd the USMC has always had a budget problem, and in part this could have been avoided if they like the navy realized the F35 was still far away, and bought Super Hornet for an Interim solution like the Navy did. Alas though this ties in to USMC more limited budget.You also forget that Legacy hornet have been flying for 14 years longer than last tomcat ever did, and that they are expected to fly until at least 2030. Look at Iranian Tomcat in comparison.

 

Ultimately areas of antiquated sustainment processes and procedures, inefficient supply chain management, poor cost data and incomplete cost analyses , limited long-term acquisition and funding strategies, have all been shortcomings of the military complex, since the USN also started having issues with supporting Super Hornets among others.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Kev2go