The F-35 thread

Jack of all trades master of none. The US would have been better of building a F-16, F18 and AV-8B stealth replacement instead of one airframe that does it all where the bulk of its design problems come from. I consider the F-22 an direct F-15C replacement. There is no replacing the A-10 except with and A-10.

Regarding all the stealth this stealth that is that radar and optical sensors are advancing as well and will be able to detect current generation stealth aircraft in a couple of years meaning your air frame is now a dud. It is easier changing an air frame's radar but its stealth characteristics not so much.

Source
 
F-35B-heads-to-Iwakuni.jpg

Iwakuni becomes the first airbase outside the U.S. to host a permanent deployment of US military F-35 stealth jets.

On Jan. 9, 2017, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121), an F-35B squadron with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, departed MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station) Yuma, Arizona, for relocation to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, in what is the first deployment of the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter outside of CONUS (Continental US).

Formerly a 3rd MAW F/A-18 Hornet squadron, the VMFA-121 “Green Knights” was re-designated as the Corps’ first operational F-35 squadron on Nov. 20, 2012. About three years later, on Jul. 31, 2015, IOC (Initial Operational Capability) was declared and in December 2015, the Squadron flew its F-35Bs in support of Exercise Steel Knight, “a combined-arms live-fire exercise which integrates capabilities of air and ground combat elements to complete a wide range of military operations in an austere environment to prepare the 1st Marine Division for deployment as the ground combat element of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force.”

The F-35B performed exceedingly well during the exercise, according to the USMC.

In October 2016, a contingent of 12 F-35Bs took part in Developmental Test III aboard USS Amerca followed by the Lightning Carrier “Proof of Concept” demonstration on the carrier on Nov. 19, 2016.

During the POC, the aircraft proved it can operate at-sea, employing a wide array of weapons loadouts with the newest software variant, so much so, some of the most experienced F-35B voiced their satisfaction for the way the aircraft is performing: “the platform is performing exceptionally,” they said.

The first two F-35B deployments aboard U.S. Navy amphibious carriers will take place in 2018.

F-35B-heads-to-Iwakuni-2.jpg

NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN – An F-35B from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, refuels in flight while transiting the Pacific from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Jan. 9, 2017, with its final destination of Iwakuni, Japan. VMFA-121 is the first operational F-35B squadron assigned to the Fleet Marine Force, with its relocation to 1st Marine Aircraft Wing at Iwakuni. The F-35B was developed to replace the Marine Corps’ F/A-18 Hornet, AV-8B Harrier and EA- 6B Prowler. The Short Take-off Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft is a true force multiplier. The unique combination of stealth, cutting-edge radar and sensor technology, and electronic warfare systems bring all of the access and lethality capabilities of a fifth-generation fighter, a modern bomber, and an adverse-weather, all-threat environment air support platform.
 
F-35 has 276 deficiencies and counting, unfit for combat operations – Pentagon report

The F-35 stealth fighter jet suffers from hundreds of problems and won’t be fully combat-capable before 2020, says a scathing report from the Pentagon’s top evaluator. New issues keep cropping up, and fixing them all may cost over $1 billion.

Dr. Michael Gilmore’s damning assessment is part of the massive annual report for fiscal year 2016, and his 62-page dossier devoted to the F-35 paints a grim picture of America’s much touted,futuristic Joint Strike Fighter. The program, which began in 2001, was supposed to deliver a fifth-generation jet serving the needs of the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps, achieving savings through a modular design. Instead, it is 70 percent over initial cost estimates and years behind schedule
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https://www.rt.com/usa/373891-f35-report-flaws-delays/

http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2016/
http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2016/pdf/dod/2016f35jsf.pdf
 
Blu82 said:
Well that report might have just ended this debate. Alternate article if you do not like rt as a source.

http://gizmodo.com/the-f-35-amazingly-has-even-more-problems-than-we-thoug-1791285476
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Do you realise the DOTE's sole purpose is to pick fault with military programs? you should probably expand your horizons a little and see what the military actually have to say, just like any intensely technical, cutting edge program there will always be issues and snags, it's Michael Gilmore's position as overseeing conscience to document them and follow up resolution (you must be new to following military programs to think the f35 is unique in this sort of thing).

Did you know the F16 program was outright failed by the AFOTEC (as they were then) with a recommendation that the entire program be scrapped as the aircraft was deemed to be beyond rectification before production could be started? The USAF decided to go against the cancellation order and threw a little more money at the program and the result is flying all over the world now.
 
Dave123 said:
Do you realise the DOTE's sole purpose is to pick fault with military programs? you should probably expand your horizons a little and see what the military actually have to say, just like any intensely technical, cutting edge program there will always be issues and snags, it's Michael Gilmore's position as overseeing conscience to document them and follow up resolution (you must be new to following military programs to think the f35 is unique in this sort of thing).

Did you know the F16 program was outright failed by the AFOTEC (as they were then) with a recommendation that the entire program be scrapped as the aircraft was deemed to be beyond rectification before production could be started? The USAF decided to go against the cancellation order and threw a little more money at the program and the result is flying all over the world now.
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either that or the advancements Russia and China are making are the root cause of all the problems being discovered that's if the aircraft was as advanced as we were made to believe in the first place by the out-going administration that created Isis
 
snoopdoggydog said:
either that or the advancements Russia and China are making are the root cause of all the problems being discovered that's if the aircraft was as advanced as we were made to believe in the first place by the out-going administration that created Isis
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I don't have enough tinfoil to comprehend your post in its entirety.
 
Blu82 said:
Jack of all trades master of none. The US would have been better of building a F-16, F18 and AV-8B stealth replacement instead of one airframe that does it all where the bulk of its design problems come from. I consider the F-22 an direct F-15C replacement. There is no replacing the A-10 except with and A-10.

Regarding all the stealth this stealth that is that radar and optical sensors are advancing as well and will be able to detect current generation stealth aircraft in a couple of years meaning your air frame is now a dud. It is easier changing an air frame's radar but its stealth characteristics not so much.

Source
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From your link:

The roughly trillion dollars Washington has spent designing and building F-117s, B-2s, F-22s, F-35s and new Long-Range Strike Bombers since the 1970s has been a waste.
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Nonsense. The F-117 & B2 have both been hugely successful in both their deterrent factor, and their combat performance. The F-22 has yet to be tested in combat, but there's certainly nothing out there that even comes close in most scenarios.

The rest of the article is mostly debunked in this series:

[video=youtube;Qwh-1jRGuDc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwh-1jRGuDc[/video]
 
ponder said:
Have not read the pdf but the awacs always seemed like a good program, the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey seems like a fsckup of note though.
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AWACS was going to be useless and a completely phony system just to keep defence contractors making money.

They were described as 'mushrooms with elephantiasis' that would never be used above conflict areas because any fighter could shoot them down.
 
Dave123 said:
They were described as 'mushrooms with elephantiasis' that would never be used above conflict areas because any fighter could shoot them down.
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Did they ever need to enter sovereign airspace? They seem to always operate on the borders of international airspace.
 
ponder said:
Did they ever need to enter sovereign airspace? They seem to always operate on the borders of international airspace.
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I doubt they even thought about the disctances an AWACS can stand off from actual conflict zone. The armchair critics and bean counters saw the disparity in top speeds between the fastest Soviet fighters and the E3 and just made things up, a bit like now with the f35.

Serious criticisms of the AWACS, leveled by the General Accounting Office and others, included worry that the slow E-3 airframe would be highly vulnerable to Soviet fighters and thus unable to get close enough to contested airspace to be of any use in a European conflict.
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Blu82 said:
Not so sure how that article and the failure description for the F-15. The only thing it mentioned was that some people didn't like it and developed the F-16 on the side.
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The F16? You mean the aircraft with so many faults that were deemed so serious that the recommendation from the forerunner of DOTE was to cancel the entire program?

Do you know what nickname the pilots gave the f16 in the early days?
 
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