F-35 Joint Strike Fighter News, Videos and pics Thread

P

paintgun

Senior Member
re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

despite the grim outlook i also think it won't be canceled, it's a very important weapons development, but the ride has not been smooth

canceling it on the other hand, would be like handing China the air supremacy for the Pacific and beyond on a platter, stopping F-22 was a mistake and with that they never have a chance to axe this bird

there is also no guarantee a new development for a new aircraft will not fall into the same pit

but boy it sure is late
 
Air Force Brat

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Well hopefully the next pres, will be a pilot, and fire the 22 back up before its too late. We need to keel haul Obey, but I do agree, our tech is way to loose. Kind of like the skewed screws on our subs, now everybody and his dog runs one. All these folks buying two F-35s?, We need the 35, but several of our allies would definetly be better served by the F-22. Thats what happens when ground pounders decide what the pilot boys need, somebody told Bam the Lightning was all electric like the chevy Volt. With our current crew it is rather apparent that people other than operators are calling the shots, and honestly you can outfit a ship or a hummer for different missions, but you make a lot of sacrifices on very high performance aircraft. All talk aside the F-35 is very well integrated, and a supersonic STOVL is very neat, but the guys and girls who operate the A and the C will wish they had that other engine for those night over water gigs. It will be interesting to see these birds when they do get them up and running, but people forget that we have been tweaking ATF for 25 years. LOL
 
S

Scratch

Captain
re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Looking at this, it's really weird how the F-35 does not have a HUD anymore, it's almost like somebody just forgot putting it there. I got just so used to seeing one on the dashboard in a fighter. Now, of course, it's all diretly projected into the pilots visor and always visible, no matter where he/she is looking.
While for a long time people have tried to provide the operator with more information, we're now at a point were there's so much information available, the pilot has to spend thoughts to filter what is actually needed and what is just a distraction.
 
P

paintgun

Senior Member
re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


1/12/2012 - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- A resolution to be even more expeditionary will be met this year, now that Marines here received their first two F-35B Lightning II variants of DoD's fifth generation fighter Jan. 11.
Click to expand...

GdmE9.jpg
 
plawolf

plawolf

Lieutenant General
re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

What are the odds of the USAF scaling back its F35A purchase and ordering more new built F15E/S/whatever-the-latest-letter-is-these-days instead?

The F35 is an amazing aircraft to be able to do what it can for it's size, but as others before me has stressed again and again, not every mission needs first-day-of-war stealth capabilities, and as soon as you start hanging stuff off the F35, all it's stealth advantages goes to hell anyways, so why even bother with the pretense? If you want a bomb truck, why not just use a bomb truck? And what better bomb truck does the west has other than the latest strike eagle version?

The F15 line is still open, and all develpment costs for the latest versions have already been covered by the foreign customers, so if the USAF was to place an order, it will only be at fly away cost, which should be considerably lower than what the likes of the South Koreans and Saudis paid for theirs, and should be a fraction of what new F35s will cost.

And before people jump all over my back with the 'more F35 bought = lower unit price' argument, has anyone looked into total costs for equipping the air force?

If buying a few hundred Eagles instead of a similar number of F35s means the unit price of F35s go up by $Xm, but $Ybn is saved, and $Xm*number of F35 bought < $Ybn, the USAF is still better off with slightly more expensive F35s but a much cheaper air force.

An all stealth air force is a nice marketing gimmick, but is the price for having that really worth paying in this day and age of tight budgets and defence cuts?
 
P

paintgun

Senior Member
re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

you have partner allied Air Forces to consider, they will not be happy to get a higher price, and they have been voicing concern about the cost of the F-35 already

answering your question needs a substantial bean counting wolfie, personally i prefer the F-35 goes full production if they can get their act together

building new teen fighters for USAF to fight in 2050 just seems sad, wise or not
extending current airframes and plugging shortfalls with small orders is the way to go until the F-35 is sorted out
 
navyreco

navyreco

Senior Member
re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

F-35 Jet Showed ‘Mixed Results’ in Tests, Pentagon Report Says
Still, “overall, the program has demonstrated very little missions systems capability thus far in flight test,” Gilmore wrote. “In fact, the program has not delivered some of its intended initial training capability, such as effective and consistent radar performance.”

Gilmore said the 63 aircraft produced under Lockheed’s first four initial production contracts “will require significant numbers of structural modifications and upgrades to attain the planned service life” and full combat capability.
Click to expand...
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top