DoD Buzz has an article where the USAF Chief of Staff is saying that we shouldn't be "alarmist" over the engine fire that will probably result in one of the 100 F-35's delivered to be written off. This comment from a reader caught my eye.
torquewrench· 17 hours ago"'It’s not unusual in a development program to have something like this happen,' she said."Something is going on behind the scenes with this program.
The powers that be keep telling us on the one hand that the jet is nearly ready to go to war. As a reliable, available instrument of force projection.
Then when something like this happens -- a dangerous, costly Class A mishap which will probably result in the burnt airframe being written off -- and that merely from taxiing out for takeoff -- the powers that be promptly say, "Oh, it's still in _development_, silly, you can't expect stability or maturity from the platform yet."
Which is it? Ready, or unready?
The USAF Chief of Staff is out in full force defending the plane...the Air Force Sec is out saying that we need to be agile enough to modify plans and not get locked into an "all or nothing" mindset when it comes to procurement (ComNavOps has a must read on this...check it out here)...the Brits still haven't put down money to buy their first "tranche" of airplanes.....
Yeah. Something is going on.