Trending today: The F-35 Lightening II, which has not exactly had a great time in development, and has been plagued by negative press since day one.
Long story short, the F-35 is a mess. The airframe has always been sound, but after that things go down hill. Mostly related to the highly advanced computer systems tasked with running the aircraft. To me, however, the number one problem has been the rush of congressional delegations to jump in and make sure their local contractors can get a piece of it. That, and the “do everything” concept is just not as feasible as we want it to be. Yes, an aircraft CAN perform air to air dominance, intercept, traditional bombing, close air support and recon, but that doesn’t mean it can do all of them well. The push to try has also compromised several performance stats such as combat radius and overall range.
Hence the Air Force decision to “un-retire” the A-10 until 2022. Other airframes are likely going to be asked to fly longer as well, such as F-16s and F-15s. And the Navy is likely going to purchase up to date F/A-18’s to tide them over until whenever the F-35 is ready to fly. Overseas, the UK is likely going to sail their new aircraft carriers without combat air wings. And I am also willing to believe that, more than even perhaps Northrup’s expertise in stealth, Boeing’s association with Lockheed–the builder of the F-35–cost them the recent Air Force bomber bid. The F-22, another sort of joint venture with Boeing, also had problems, after all.
Trust me, I STRONGLY support next gen aircraft, ships and weapons programs. The B-52 first flew in the 1950’s, the majority of our tankers not long after. Even front line fighter airframes are approaching 30-40 years old. There is spin-off technology to be had in the development of new military tech as well. And Lockheed, as easy as it is to bash them on the F-35, has a long and PROUD tradition of pushing the envelope when it comes to aviation. Anyone heard of the SR-71? Or the word “Skunkworks?” The F-16 has been one of the true success stories in USA military aviation, and that had trouble too when it first flew.
We have to learn to do R&D and contracting SMARTER, however, and make awarding decisions based on factors other than who has the biggest lobbying check. We do need new toys — we just need to reform the process on how we buy them.
http://gizmodo.com/the-pentagons-new-list-of-f-35-bugs-is-predictably-awfu-1756826707?rev=1454515303560&utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/05/f35-still-dogged-with-deficiencies-pentagon-report.html?ESRC=todayinmil.sm