via BizJournals.com
Sure, it may be years past schedule and billions over budget, but cut the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program some slack.
That was the message from Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, speaking July 24 at a roll-out ceremony for the first two F-35 training aircraft delivered to Australia. He pointed to millions of lines of code, an integrated design that brings together stealth, advanced sensors, radars, and infrared sensors, electronic warfare capability, and integration of weapons systems.
"You're talking about something that no one has ever done before, which will put us all a decade or more ahead of anybody else out there,” he said during a ceremony last week at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics assembly plant in Fort Worth, the Pentagon reported. “And [it will] keep us ahead for some time to come as we continue to upgrade the F-35.”
The reporter flubbed the lead.
The F-35 will need to be continuously upgraded to keep it competitive.
Quite honestly I can say that the plane is already behind its competitors (including supposedly 4th gen fighters) before its even entered service. As far as cutting the plane slack?
Not on your fucking life.
Its late, its expensive, its a maintenance nightmare and its doesn't deliver what was promised.
I'm convinced more than ever that the plane is going to be cut due to cost alone...never mind effectiveness. The death spiral will hit full bore next year because the Pentagon has nothing else to cut, the US Army has been evicerated, the US Navy is now shelving ships and there is a quiet rebellion in the Marine Corps over the cost of the wing.
Our allies better get ready for the predictable and long foreseen bad news.