F-35. A decade behind schedule and $200 Billion over budget...

via National Interest...Dan Grazier's closing argument on this cluster...

Now nearly a decade behind schedule and $200 billion over budget, the F-35 program continues to perform far below expectations—and is nowhere near to fulfilling the Pentagon and Lockheed’s many promises. Its continuing performance and design failures are not commensurate with the massive investments made for the past 20 years. At this point, the operational testers should complete the original stringent testing plan agreed to by the services, the F-35 program office, and DOT&E, without succumbing to powerful political pressure to sacrifice combat-realism for expediency. Only then will anyone know if the F-35 will actually work in combat—and whether our troops would be well supported when the F-35 replaces the A-10. Until then, to serve the troops and taxpayers better, Congress should stop increasing F-35 production rates every year, as every incompletely tested, deficiency-laden F-35 built will waste even more taxpayer dollars on costly retrofits.


Congress should also demand that DOT&E return to its previous transparency. Lawmakers should then use that operational test transparency to shoulder their oversight responsibilities, and demand that the withheld information be made public.


The American people, especially the men and women who will have to trust their lives to the F-35, deserve nothing less.

Here

Is this too much to ask?

With a program that is a DECADE behind schedule and $200 Billion Dollars over budget (that alone should be cause for a congressional investigation...that we haven't seen one, or that congress is ignoring its own statutes by not starting one is amazing) the last thing we should do is to "ramp up" production.

People don't like hearing it, but we're buying mistake jets.  Jets that will necessarily need costly upgrades.

Personally I find it amazing that our allies are actually purchasing this plane while its in this condition.  Of course that's between those govts and their citizens to sort out, but here at home I KNOW we deserve better.

The Rosomak OF ZSSW.

It's the classic Rosomak with an all new turret.  Don't ask me...I don't know a thing about it.  Looks like different sensors, maybe a new gun and a twin anti-tank missile launcher on the side.

Hopefully one of you guys can fill in the details.

The reports on the F-35's woes keep getting worse....F-35B’s fully mission capable rate fell from 23 percent in October 2017 to 12.9 percent in June 2018...

via National Interest.

The most important measure of an aircraft’s readiness for combat is the “fully mission capable” rate. This is the percentage of aircraft on hand that have fully functional, non-degraded vehicle systems (flight controls and engine), electronic mission systems (radar, electronic warfare systems, computers, etc.), and weapons employment capabilities—a particularly important measure for the F-35. The 2017 DOT&E report showed a 26 percent fully mission capable rate across the entire F-35 fleet. Because the 2018 report makes no mention of this rate, it is impossible to know what the 2018 rate was.


The Navy document POGO obtained shows that the problem persists : the Marines’ F-35B and the Navy’s F-35C variants posted even worse figures in 2018 than in the previous year. The F-35B’s fully mission capable rate fell from 23 percent in October 2017 to 12.9 percent in June 2018, while the F-35C plummeted from 12 percent in October 2016 to 0 percent in December 2017, then remained in the single digits through 2018.


Based on the Navy and Marine variants’ dismally low fully mission capable rates, and on how little appears to have improved across the program since 2017, the fully mission capable rate for the full fleet is likely far below the 80 percent target rate for the program set by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis.


In response to POGO’s questions about the Navy’s fully mission capable rates, the Joint Program Office highlighted the entire F-35 fleet’s higher “mission capable” rate, a less rigorous—and less useful—measure showing how often the aircraft can perform at least one of its assigned tasks. The office also identified the lack of spare parts as the biggest factor impacting availability.


To tell how many planes can actually get to the fight requires a second measure, the sortie generation rate: that is, how many flights per day each fighter in the fleet completes. The 2018 DOT&E report makes no mention of it.


The fleet-wide sortie rates for the three F-35 variants POGO calculated from the 2017 report were extremely low, averaging between 0.3 and 0.4 sorties per day. During Operation Desert Storm, frontline combat aircraft including the F-15 and F-16 flew an average of at least one sortie per day , and the A-10 fleet averaged at least 1.4 sorties per day. Even under the pressure of recent Middle East combat deployment , the F-35’s rates have not improved. According to statements from the squadron commander, 6 F-35Bs onboard the USS Essex flew over 100 sorties in 50-plus days in the Middle East. In other words, each F-35B flew a third of a sortie per day—meaning they flew an average of once every three days—in sustained combat.

Story here. 

There ain't enough lipstick in the world to make this pig look beautiful.

I can't wait for Gar9, Ogden, Spudman, Jason, OSVNO (think that's right) and others to tell me how this article is wrong too.

One thing truly upsets me though.  A Marine Corps Officer went out and stated that the F-35B dropped more bombs than the Harrier would have on the same type deployment.  I won't say he lied but I do think he twisted the facts so hard that it would take a battalion of chiropractors to straighten things out.

All jokes aside.

If the Pentagon has sunk to the level of lying to protect a program then the US military is in worse trouble than I thought (and make no mistake, I believe they have sunk just that low...the vain hope of things turning around led them down this rabbit hole...I need that quote from Don about optimism).

They need the support of the citizens. 

If people like me get the idea that they're just another group of lying politicians in uniform then they're truly lost. 

If they lose the trust of the citizenry then they have no hope.

The F-35 isn't worth it.

Someone has to do the adult thing in the Pentagon and state clearly that there will be no more lies, no more half truths, no more deception. They must start being actual and factual.

WTF is going on in the UK? Is it really this serious?

Sky News can reveal the armed forces have activated a team in a nuclear bunker beneath the Ministry of Defence to step up preparations for a 'no-deal' Brexit

— Sky News Breaking (@SkyNewsBreak) March 21, 2019

Jesus.  They're acting like this is an armageddon type event.  I thought it was just about leaving the EU but obviously there are bigger fears than just that.

Anyone know what this is about????

Turkey's F-35 purchase is in serious jeopardy...

"The S-400 is a computer. The F-35 is a computer. You don't hook your computer to your adversary's computer and that's basically what we would be doing,"

This is turning into a terrible week for the F-35.  Check this out from Military.com

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford said Thursday that it will be difficult to proceed with the sale and delivery of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to Turkey given Turkey's insistence on acquiring a Russian system designed to shoot them down.


"It's a tough issue," Dunford said, and the U.S. "would have a hard time" justifying the F-35 sale to a nation that has Russia's S-400 advanced anti-air system.


Dunford said he's worked hard to improve relations with NATO-allied Turkey, but the S-400s could be a deal-breaker on the F-35 sale.


"We're hopeful to find a way through this, but it's a tough issue," Dunford said.


In all, Turkey wants to buy 100 of the F-35A variant used by the U.S. Air Force, according to Joint Strike Fighter manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp. The country took delivery of its first F-35 last June, amid legislative efforts to halt future deliveries.


Reuters reported earlier Thursday that the U.S. was eyeing a freeze in preparations to deliver the F-35 to Turkey in light of the country's efforts to acquire the S-400.


"The S-400 is a computer. The F-35 is a computer. You don't hook your computer to your adversary's computer and that's basically what we would be doing," Katie Wheelbarger, acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told the news outlet in an interview.

Story here. 

Hmm.  Can't quite make up my mind.  Does Turkey deserve/get full benefits of NATO membership or not?  If they're part of NATO then they have a right to buy any and everything they want.  We don't necessarily have to sell them any weapon system because of their membership.

BUT! 

They're a partner in the program so at the very least we should be ready to refund money if we determine it isn't in our interests to sell them this airplane.

I wonder how many poison pills are written into this agreement that makes either side backing out financially difficult....or at least difficult to explain to the country's citizens.

Open Comment Post. 22 March 2019

Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations.....Video by Cpl. Isaac Cantrell

2nd LAR @ NTC 19-05....pics by Sgt. Justin Smith

Dude, you definitely picked the wrong SUV!

Back in your car, comrade. pic.twitter.com/EGO7z5QJiL

— COP VIDEOS (@Copvids911) March 22, 2019

Sikorsky-Boeing #SB1 Defiant Completes First Flight

Thanks to Spudman for the link!



I'd cheer but that big ass prop on the back that is just sitting there is a concern. 

Come on guys....let's see the darn thing turning and burning.  The Army is halting CH-47 buys for the promise of this program so if the Defiant is gonna be competitive it's gonna have to start delivering now.

You push hard and keep pushing or you get trampled and hurdled.