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The Jet That Ate The Pentagon
Richly hyperlinked article in Foreign Policy argues that the F35, trying to be multiservice, STOVL, supersonic, multirole AND stealth, and with an inefficient concurrent-with-development acquisition strategy, is chewing up huge amounts of procurement funds and shaping up to be a lackluster aircraft. An F111 for the 21st century? (www.foreignpolicy.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
The same thing is happening with the LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) program the Navy is mucking around with. A failing attempt to make one platform capable of performing multiple missions and therefore saving costs and time etc...All you get in the end is a platform which actually can perform a number of missions, but cant do any of them well.
We've not lost an F15 or F-16 in air-to-air combat yet. The f-16 is a terrific air to ground attack vehicle. The F-15 is a true successor to the F-4. Remember Ockams Razor: or Keep It Simple Stupid!
Why the disappointment???
This is just ANOTHER example of what the Industrial Military Complex does best; creating the most obtuse kind of welfare there is..... corporate welfare so the rich get richer, thank you Repugnant's.
The Industrial Military Complex figured out LONG ago if they meted out contracts to contractors in EACH state funding will NEVER be cut and the sheeple (You) will support this absurdity, until we fall just as the Roman Empire did!
Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the U.S. in his closing address as President, in 1961, about the Military Industrial Complex over expanding and becoming too much of a debt burden on the GDP of the United States.
Our Military uses 13% of ALL the world’s oil produced DAILY, the U.S. now accounts for approximately 40% of the WORLDS global arms spending (yet we are only 5% of the World's population) and our Military spending is over 6 times larger than the military budget of China. Bush & the Repugnant's increased the military budget by 50% while in he was in office.
From the article, the F35 OPTIMISTICALLY will ONLY cost $1.5 trillion... more than the annual GDP of Spain!!! Our total defense spending is now greater than the next 14 countries COMBINED, yet we have no industrial enemies, Al Qaeda is down to a scattered force that drones can handle, Bin Laden is dead, yet we keep raising the defense budget.
Sadly for America when it comes to defense, the sheeple have small penis syndrome and believe more is better and the Repugnant's will continue lying, saying the deficit is due to entitlements.
What a deplorable testament to TRUE hero's whose sacrifice WAS a necessity, those of the greatest generation, those that fought WWII.
This is just ANOTHER example of what the Industrial Military Complex does best; creating the most obtuse kind of welfare there is..... corporate welfare so the rich get richer, thank you Repugnant's.
The Industrial Military Complex figured out LONG ago if they meted out contracts to contractors in EACH state funding will NEVER be cut and the sheeple (You) will support this absurdity, until we fall just as the Roman Empire did!
Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the U.S. in his closing address as President, in 1961, about the Military Industrial Complex over expanding and becoming too much of a debt burden on the GDP of the United States.
Our Military uses 13% of ALL the world’s oil produced DAILY, the U.S. now accounts for approximately 40% of the WORLDS global arms spending (yet we are only 5% of the World's population) and our Military spending is over 6 times larger than the military budget of China. Bush & the Repugnant's increased the military budget by 50% while in he was in office.
From the article, the F35 OPTIMISTICALLY will ONLY cost $1.5 trillion... more than the annual GDP of Spain!!! Our total defense spending is now greater than the next 14 countries COMBINED, yet we have no industrial enemies, Al Qaeda is down to a scattered force that drones can handle, Bin Laden is dead, yet we keep raising the defense budget.
Sadly for America when it comes to defense, the sheeple have small penis syndrome and believe more is better and the Repugnant's will continue lying, saying the deficit is due to entitlements.
What a deplorable testament to TRUE hero's whose sacrifice WAS a necessity, those of the greatest generation, those that fought WWII.
I thought of the F-111 disaster as soon as the JSF program was announced.
Why F35 cost is more than Boeing 777-300ER?
Why are we wasting our time and effort trying to build an airplane that is all things to all people?
There is almost NO reason why are fighter needs to be stealth. A true fighter exists to shoot down other airplanes. Period. They'll find out you are there soon enough.
Now, an ATTACK aircraft would need to be stealthy, does not need to be supersonic - it just has to maneuver well and be able to take a hit and keep flying. Think Warthog.
A Bomber can be stealth if it is going to be an all-weather and primarily bomb at night aircraft - since pretty much during the day if you can see it you can kill it. Think B2
Building a stealthy, supersonic attack / fighter / bomber is exactly the same stupid idea that Hitler forced on the Luftwaffe with the Me-262 - an airplane designed as an interceptor is forcably converted to a bomber [i.e., multi-role] which it is not designed to do and therefore does not do the job especially well.
If we want a fighter - build a damn fighter. Fast, manueverable and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and shoot down anything else in the air. We already have the F15C - prob still the best purpose built figher in the world - and we could have simply updated the F14 air frame with new avionics and engines and that would have only millions per air frame.
If we want an attack aircraft - then build one. We can probably make an F-18E/F airframe stealthier than it is with just a little effort - remember - you get 95% of the gains with 5% of the money spent. Attack aircraft are generally support aircraft on a battle field - they KNOW we are there - there is little point to stealthy airframes. If we need to launch stand off attack weapons the stealth is not necessary - its STAND OFF remember?
If we want a recon airplane - then build a purpose built FAST stable air frame - and bring fighters to protect it if you need to on ingress and egress. Bring the Rivet Joints and the other jammers to spoof the trackers in the electronic war environment. Speed is like there - not stealth.
Finally, if we want a bomber, then build more B2's or whatever - you don't need stealthy bombers - bring the fighters for top cover, the attack airplanes to SEAD, and then stand off weps in the attack airplanes if needed.
There is almost NO reason why are fighter needs to be stealth. A true fighter exists to shoot down other airplanes. Period. They'll find out you are there soon enough.
Now, an ATTACK aircraft would need to be stealthy, does not need to be supersonic - it just has to maneuver well and be able to take a hit and keep flying. Think Warthog.
A Bomber can be stealth if it is going to be an all-weather and primarily bomb at night aircraft - since pretty much during the day if you can see it you can kill it. Think B2
Building a stealthy, supersonic attack / fighter / bomber is exactly the same stupid idea that Hitler forced on the Luftwaffe with the Me-262 - an airplane designed as an interceptor is forcably converted to a bomber [i.e., multi-role] which it is not designed to do and therefore does not do the job especially well.
If we want a fighter - build a damn fighter. Fast, manueverable and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and shoot down anything else in the air. We already have the F15C - prob still the best purpose built figher in the world - and we could have simply updated the F14 air frame with new avionics and engines and that would have only millions per air frame.
If we want an attack aircraft - then build one. We can probably make an F-18E/F airframe stealthier than it is with just a little effort - remember - you get 95% of the gains with 5% of the money spent. Attack aircraft are generally support aircraft on a battle field - they KNOW we are there - there is little point to stealthy airframes. If we need to launch stand off attack weapons the stealth is not necessary - its STAND OFF remember?
If we want a recon airplane - then build a purpose built FAST stable air frame - and bring fighters to protect it if you need to on ingress and egress. Bring the Rivet Joints and the other jammers to spoof the trackers in the electronic war environment. Speed is like there - not stealth.
Finally, if we want a bomber, then build more B2's or whatever - you don't need stealthy bombers - bring the fighters for top cover, the attack airplanes to SEAD, and then stand off weps in the attack airplanes if needed.