The F-35 may be unsalvageable

[BoyNextDoor]

The F-35 may be unsalvageable

The 2021 reviews of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) are in, and they are not glowing.

On Jan. 14, 2021, Tricky Trump's then-Acting Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Christopher Miller labeled the JSF a “piece of [expletive].”

Then, on March 5, 2021, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) called the program a “rathole,” and asked whether it was time to stop spending that much money for “such a low capability?”

The JSF has become the embodiment of the DOD’s broken weapons acquisition system, which has been on the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk List since 1990.

SOURCE

 

[pointless]

the military industrial complex will be the death of us all. it is built on corruption and that corruption is the sole reason our military budget is as insanely high as it is. sadly, it would be political suicide for anyone to even attempt to fix it because the scum that profit from it would be more than happy to kick their workers to the curb to show everyone who was boss.

 

[Comshaw]

The F-35 may be unsalvageable

The 2021 reviews of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) are in, and they are not glowing.

On Jan. 14, 2021, Tricky Trump's then-Acting Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Christopher Miller labeled the JSF a “piece of [expletive].”

Then, on March 5, 2021, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) called the program a “rathole,” and asked whether it was time to stop spending that much money for “such a low capability?”

The JSF has become the embodiment of the DOD’s broken weapons acquisition system, which has been on the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk List since 1990.

SOURCE

They knew that right for the git-go not long after the first one was built.

I have a close friend who was until very recently a C5A pilot in the Air Force The sole reason the F35 was pushed so hard and so much money was poured down that rat hole is that the top leaders of the Air Force are all fighter jocks and see any other type of attack aircraft as inferior and not worth the effort to design or retain. They tried and failed to make the F-35 do everything. Anyone who has ever tried to operate or use a machine that is designed to do everything in a given field knows it never works as intended and in fact never does anything very well.

"We can replace most of our attack fighters like the A 10 with the F 35." Uh hu.

The argument was that the A-10 was slow and other fighters designed for air-to-air combat would easily shoot it down where the F-35 could respond to a fighter attack. The A10 was designed with two purposes in mind, to kill tanks (close ground support) on the battlefield and survive while doing it. Even when it was designed and started production in the 70's there were fighters that were faster and designed for air-to-air combat. But that didn't stop the A-10 from being made.

I was part of a tank company in the late 70's early 80's. Part of the training then was a combined strike force. A company of tanks escorted by a company of APCs fitted with the 20mm Vulcan and the track-mounted Chapperal ground-to-air missile system. The thought being the tanks were for ground operations and protected the Vulcans and Chapperrals from ground attack while those two protected the tanks from air attack.

It works the same in the sky. If you send out an A-10 for ground support and you suspect there will be fighters in the area, send a fucking fighter escort, a combined strike force.

After all the foo fraa about the F-35 doing the ground support job as well as the A-10 it seems it was all bullshit as they should have known from the beginning. The F-35 doesn't have the low-speed pass capabilities of the A-10 so no matter what they're armed with, it isn't going to be as accurate or as effective as the Warthog. The F-35 carries 100 rounds of cannon ammunition, the A-10, 4000. It's like demanding someone go piss on a forest fire when you have a tanker plane sitting on the runway ready to go.

The part that gets ignored by most of those in the air Force high command is this: the job of a ground support attack aircraft is to support the guys fighting on the ground. The A-10 has proven its worth and effectiveness in that role time after time. The psychological moral effect on the troops on the ground of such support is important.

So yeah, the Air Force bigwigs need their asses kicked for pouring money down the rathole of the F-35. And to be clear, the blame shouldn't all be placed in the donald's lap. This has been ongoing for years and our elected representatives, both Republican and Democrat let the top brass in the Air Force run amuck like a kid in a fucking candy store. Perhaps the words of one of our American heroes, a man who helped lead the way to victory in WWII, was one or president and a stanch Republican should be taken to heart:


“Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense.

“We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, 3½ million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.

“Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower


Comshaw

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

Kinda pointless to worry about government waste. Aint gonna change, probably get worse. Just accept it like death, taxes and bitchy women.

 

[SevMax2]

Scrap, find a better, more cost-effective weapons system, and use the savings to cancel student debt or institute a UBI. Something helpful for once.