U.S. Marine Corps F-35B fighter jets (foreground) and South Korean air Force's F-15K fly over South Korea during a joint military drill, South Korea on August 31, 2017. Republic of Korea Air Force/Yonhap/via REUTERS
Dan Grazier, National Interest: The F-35 Program Continues to Stumble
The F-35 still has a long way to go before it will be ready for combat. That was the parting message of Dr. Michael Gilmore, the now-retired Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, in his last annual report.
The Joint Strike Fighter Program has already consumed more than $100 billion and nearly 25 years. Just to finish the basic development phase will require at least an extra $1 billion and two more years. Even with this massive investment of time and money, Dr. Gilmore told Congress, the Pentagon, and the public, “the operational suitability of all variants continues to be less than desired by the Services."
Dr. Gilmore detailed a range of remaining and sometimes worsening problems with the program, including hundreds of critical performance deficiencies and maintenance problems. He also raised serious questions about whether the Air Force’s F-35A can succeed in either air-to-air or air-to-ground missions, whether the Marine Corps’ F-35B can conduct even rudimentary close air support, and whether the Navy’s F-35C is suitable to operate from aircraft carriers.
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WNU Editor: The now-retired Director of Operational Test and Evaluation for the U.S. Air Force is clearly not happy with the performance of the F-35. His final report is here.
2 comments:
That's what happens when we want only one platform which will do perfectly different mission's with just minimal "variants". Small countries can make "compromise" because they have not the money and not the same goal of USA. A super power needs to have specialized weapons. That's costly, of course, but we have to make a choice: being big or let other take our place.
The f35 is a symptom of deep societal corruption. This is self evident.
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