Friday, March 13, 2015

Problems Continue To Mount For The F-35

Lockheed Martin F-35 jet fighter (Reuters/U.S. Marine Corps/DVIDS/Cpl. Shelby Shields)

Mandy Smithberger, War Is Boring: F-35 Still Years Away From Being Ready for Combat

America’s new fighter jet is plagued with engine, software and fuel tank problems

The F-35 continues to fail the most basic requirements for combat aircraft and common sense. Despite reforms, the F-35 continues to be unaffordable, its engines continue to be susceptible to fire, and the Pentagon continues to misrepresent its performance.

Below are just a few of the issues identified in a recent report from the Defense Department’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation:


More News On The F-35

The F-35's onboard software system is having even more problems -- Business Insider
More Money, More Problems: F-35 Software Overwhelmed With False Alarms -- Sputnik
F-35 sensors plagued by false alarms - reports -- RT
F-35 Will Not Reach Full Close-Air-Support Potential Until 2022 -- DoD Buzz
F-35 won't be fully capable of close-air support until 2022 -- Autoblog
Italy Produces First F-35 Outside US -- Defense News
F-35 Pilots Test Aircraft in Extreme Sub-Zero Conditions -- Military.com
F-35 helmet uses retinal projection to give pilots a “God’s eye view” -- Geek
How Russia’s S-400 makes the F-35 obsolete -- RBTH
Air Force seeking public comment on F-35 basing in Alaska -- Air Force Times
Reform Pentagon Acquisition By Slowing Down the F-35 -- William D. Hartung, Defense One
F-35 Fighter Continues Next-Gen Attack on Taxpayer Wallets -- Lee Ferran, ABC News

6 comments:

Ropestuff said...

I owned a stock like the f35 once. It just kept going down in value but I put so much money into it I just couldn't let it go, so I just watched it become more an more worthless. A buddy told me about how hard people fight for their losses in gambling, getting deeper and deeper in the hole because they just can't let it go. I think that is what is happening here. It's a piece of garbage but they've spent so much money on it they just can't let it go.

Jay Farquharson said...

Ropestuff,

The F-35 program is already 14 years on, (7 prototype, 7 production) and 117 have been built. there is no going back, as only the Europeans, Russians and Chinese have Gen 4.5 fighters in production.

There ain't no going back and that's what they counted on.

Ropestuff said...

What a train wreck.

Ropestuff said...

Scrap it. Call it 14 years of learning and move on.

Jay Farquharson said...

Ropestuff,

They can't do it. The existing fighter airframes have maybe a decade left in them, even with upgrades,

CF-18's have already fallen out of the sky from stress cracks.

In a few months, the F-16 and F-18 lines will be shut down, the tooling scrapped.

Ropestuff said...

This could transform from an expensive train wreck to a dire situation. From a flawed premise to a serious military liability over night, if what you say is true, and I don't doubt your sources. The prospect of finding ourselves without decent planes is frightening.