Joint Strike Fighter: We Were Told This Would Happen

[unhappycamper]

Joint Strike Fighter: We Were Told This Would Happen
Winslow T. Wheeler
Director, Straus Military Reform Project, Center for Defense Information
Posted: November 20, 2009 11:52 AM

As the Pentagon's $300 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program continues to unravel, it is useful to remind ourselves who told us all of this would happen, and who might now be making foolish prognostications.

~snip~

Last Sunday, Bob Cox at the Fort Worth Star Telegram told us that the Defense Contract Management Agency has described some of the ongoing delays and cost overruns as a result of a painfully long list of serious production problems. Find the details here.

On Monday, Lockheed proudly announced to Reuters that its short take-off and vertical landing test jet has finally arrived at the Navy test facility at Patuxent, Maryland to resume the F-35 flight test program, now a few months or a few years behind schedule - depending on what baseline you use. But later in the week, the word spread at Lockheed that things didn't go as well as expected at Patuxent. (The specifics of this are sure to break in the news, given the close attention paid by the press.)

This weekend, the Pentagon's "Acquisition Czar," Ashton Carter, will convene a meeting to ponder how to rescue the program. The word is that he is contemplating a plan to accelerate the flight test program - which sounds good until you consider the program can't even maintain the delayed flight test program it is on now. The plan, nonetheless, will provide cover for moving around contractor engineers and other actions to feign big savings in the program. Carter is also contemplating a downsizing of the F-35's performance requirements, perhaps in a manner that will be hard for overseers, if any, in Congress to find and/or in a manner that may complicate the program for the Air Force and further dampen the already tepid enthusiasm for the aircraft in the Navy. As a result of all this, cost growth being predicted by a multi-service team of analysts in the Pentagon, known as the "JET," would be mostly wished away. (We know about the Joint Estimating Team's cost analysis thanks to reporting from Jason Sherman at Inside Defense.)

None of this would fix the program in any real sense, but it would pretend that the F-35 program is not going to breach some newly revised congressional reporting requirements for cost overruns (known widely as Nunn-McCurdy). Thus - it is hoped - the world would remain ignorant of the problems beneath.


Rest of article about this $239 million dollar wonder that still can't fly above 20,000 feet: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/winslow-t-wheeler/joint-strike-fighter-we-w_b_365354.html

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

1. I don't know a single person in the military who doesn't think this thing is ridiculous

I also know somebody who worked on it with BAe and was subjected to all the ridiculous drama between the Pentagon and our supposed allies who are being treated like dirt despite being essential to the program.

Ultimately the JSF has fallen victim to the very problem it was supposed to resolve, the runaway cost of fighter aircraft leading to them being procured in smaller and smaller numbers with each passing generation. The problem potentially accelerates as the rising cost will alienate the foreign customers, diminishing economies of scale and further escalating costs.

Boeing and the Europeans can deliver a pretty credible and economical alternative to the F-35 and in countries with much less tolerance for runaway uncountable defense spending it will be politically difficult to remain onboard for the JSF.

[Canuckistanian]

4. I was involved in some of the early contracting

Well, the bidding, at least. We never got a contract.

ALL the contractors were eager to get their hands on the JSF becuase they knew it was complicated and would be in production for a LOOONG time, given the potential problems.

It's a cash cow, pure and simple.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

5. ANOTHER PENTAGON "MAKE-WORK" PROGRAM

WHY CAN'T WE SAY NO TO THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL GANG.

[bahrbearian]

6. Boeing couldn't make the F22 work

with out runaway unacountable spending, and a faulty airframe. You think that they could have built the JSF? Look at the 787, that has European help too.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. I think Boeing is as worthless as a corporation can be

But for the export market the enhanced models of the F-15 and F-18 are a credible alternative to the JSF and arguably much more capable.

[bahrbearian]

11. Your right,

Proven work horses. F-22 proven dog.

[Fumesucker]

2. Any plane that is designed to fulfill the roles of the F15, the A10 and the Harrier

Is going to be a clusterfucked kluge of huge proportions.

The combat roles are just too damn diverse and no single plane is going to be able to do it all in a reasonable and cost effective manner.

The A10 cost around $10 million per plane in constant dollars I think, the replacement is going to cost $239 million.

In what universe does that make any kind of sense for anyone but the contractors involved?

[FarCenter]

3. Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing version will be too heavy, short range, poor performance

It's not that you can't develop such a beast. It is just that it is marginally useful and uneconomic.

It should be stripped out of the program.

[gratuitous]

8. Are we buying gilded lillies, too?

What is the "threat" we're supposed to be meeting, presuming this boondoggle is actually delivered, and works precisely as advertised? Are we dueling some other yet-to-be-revealed superpower for control of the skies? And the people who vote for the continuing funding of this project have the brass to complain about deficits and goverment spending?

[onethatcares]

9. well, Iraq did have wmds, ya know.

and this will be just the ticket to prevent those 1980 type jets from taking off while full of sand.

40 per cent of every tax dollar gets sucked into the black hole called defense and we can't afford medicare for all because of the cost.

we as a nation are truly fucked.

[Political Heretic]

10. Scrap this bullshit, keep F-22s

I know, we don't need F-22s either, but god that plane is amazing.

[bahrbearian]

12. It's amazing that it has 1/2 the life expectancy than Promised.

[Political Heretic]

13. I don't care about that.

I just love to watch it fly.

[TexasObserver]

14. Recommend