Post by nuuumannn on Dec 30, 2022 14:18:14 GMT 12
Germany has signed its agreement with Washington to formally purchase the type and even Czechia is buying into it instead of buying upgraded Gripens. The wee accident in Texas is making waves as LM has stated that a small number - no figure - have been grounded "until January" according to press reports, and Israel is doing the same to some of its examples. This comes after Martin Baker revealed a manufacturing fault in a range of its seats, which saw the Pentagon ground almost all its F-35s earlier this year, but that wasn't a fault of the airframe. The press isn't done with the F-35 yet...
The thing that most people miss regarding the F-35 is how difficult it was to do what the specification wanted. A common airframe for three different operational variants, one of which is a short take-off vertical landing replacement for the Harrier with supersonic capability. It also has to be stealthy, and network connected to the most modern electronic battlespace environment. Not an easy thing to do incorporating all that stuff into one airframe, something that quite possibly would not have been achievable without international partnership, and that is extensive - Britain alone contributes 30 percent of componentry to existing airframes. Look at Boeing's X-32 for the failed attempt at doing all this, also the fact that Russia stopped the Yak-41 programme hints at the difficulty and cost of producing a service ready supersonic STOVL strike fighter.
The other factor most people, including the vast majority of journalists who write about the aircraft, forget is the Concurrency program. Since Robert MacNamara imposed the concept, every major US defence (defense) programme has been subject to Concurrency. This is the concept of putting the equipment into service as rapidly as possible after development and ironing out all the bugs in service as discovered by those who will actually operate the thing, thus circumventing time and effort (read Billions) in R&D before it enters service. The idea was introduced in the 60s because of the growing sophistication of modern fighters following the F-4. Every major US combat aircraft programme from the F-14 has had concurrency applied, theoretically saving the USA taxpayer money and getting these aircraft into service in a timely fashion.
Sure, the F-35 is expensive and has developmental issues, but as mentioned almost 20 foreign operators (and more to come) mean it is a significant aircraft that offers capability beyond anything else in service at present.
DSC_0278
The thing that most people miss regarding the F-35 is how difficult it was to do what the specification wanted. A common airframe for three different operational variants, one of which is a short take-off vertical landing replacement for the Harrier with supersonic capability. It also has to be stealthy, and network connected to the most modern electronic battlespace environment. Not an easy thing to do incorporating all that stuff into one airframe, something that quite possibly would not have been achievable without international partnership, and that is extensive - Britain alone contributes 30 percent of componentry to existing airframes. Look at Boeing's X-32 for the failed attempt at doing all this, also the fact that Russia stopped the Yak-41 programme hints at the difficulty and cost of producing a service ready supersonic STOVL strike fighter.
The other factor most people, including the vast majority of journalists who write about the aircraft, forget is the Concurrency program. Since Robert MacNamara imposed the concept, every major US defence (defense) programme has been subject to Concurrency. This is the concept of putting the equipment into service as rapidly as possible after development and ironing out all the bugs in service as discovered by those who will actually operate the thing, thus circumventing time and effort (read Billions) in R&D before it enters service. The idea was introduced in the 60s because of the growing sophistication of modern fighters following the F-4. Every major US combat aircraft programme from the F-14 has had concurrency applied, theoretically saving the USA taxpayer money and getting these aircraft into service in a timely fashion.
Sure, the F-35 is expensive and has developmental issues, but as mentioned almost 20 foreign operators (and more to come) mean it is a significant aircraft that offers capability beyond anything else in service at present.
DSC_0278 
