F-35 Delayed Again

[PeriscopeDepth]

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs...6-e240a4d3e8ee

What really gets me, about a month after Lockheed has a press release that says everything is going great!:

Originally Posted by Bill Sweetman

The delay was revealed by the Netherlands Ministry of Defense in a letter last week.

The taxpayers who are funding the overwhelming majority of the project are notified of further major delays by a foreign ministry of defense? Sneaky sneaky, Lockheed.

PD

[Steel_Tomb]

Seeing that the F-35 is such an advanced aircraft I'm not surprised there have been delays. Some of the tech in there is pretty new stuff... but I think it will be ok in the end. So many things to test with new airframes.

[Syxx_Killer]

It doesn't surprise there are delays when you have an aircraft trying to be the jack of all trades and a master of them as well.

[iambecomelife]

I heard that it & the F-22 might be the last US fighter aircraft to have a human pilot - is this likely?

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

I heard that it & the F-22 might be the last US fighter aircraft to have a human pilot - is this likely?

Well, there's certainly nothing else new on the table at this moment. I think this is something we'll find out when the government goes shopping for the next fighter, and at this rate that might not be so soon. The longer it takes, the more likely it is.

That said, who knows if developments in things like anti-air lasers don't make fighter aircraft themselves suddenly obsolete and/or unneeded in the next couple of decades :hmm:

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

I heard that it & the F-22 might be the last US fighter aircraft to have a human pilot - is this likely?

Not a chance. What would the yuppy Air Force Academy grads do then. Work for a living?

As long as there are ring knockers in charge, there will always be manned planes. They may not do much but you have to keep the bag-hags happy

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Not a chance. What would the yuppy Air Force Academy grads do then. Work for a living?

As long as there are ring knockers in charge, there will always be manned planes. They may not do much but you have to keep the bag-hags happy

Nahh, the fighter jocks will eventually re-qualify to space jocks. The athmosphere is too dense to support their desire for faster and cooler-looking machines for much longer :p

[Lagger123987]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

I heard that it & the F-22 might be the last US fighter aircraft to have a human pilot - is this likely?

In my opinion, I wouldn't replace the human pilot with a computer, who know if it going to go berserk after watching too much Terminator or somthing similar to that moive.

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Lagger123987

In my opinion, I wouldn't replace the human pilot with a computer, who know if it going to go berserk after watching too much Terminator or somthing similar to that moive.

Solution: don't let military computers download movies

[PeriscopeDepth]

Originally Posted by CCIP

That said, who knows if developments in things like anti-air lasers don't make fighter aircraft themselves suddenly obsolete and/or unneeded in the next couple of decades :hmm:

I think this is what will make manned military aviation go away completely eventually. When hunting SAMs and directed energy weapons make "fighter pilot (can't touch me while I bomb from 25,000 feet)" no more protected than a foot soldier.

PD

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth

I think this is what will make manned military aviation go away completely eventually. When hunting SAMs and directed energy weapons make "fighter pilot (can't touch me while I bomb from 25,000 feet)" no more protected than a foot soldier.

PD

Nah we will just have to lower the standards into the Air Force Academy. More Academy grads = Problem fixed.
:rotfl:

[PeriscopeDepth]

And today Canada has decided they don't need 80 F-35s.

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssI...31405420080512

PD

[CaptHawkeye]

A lot of the problems with the F-35 just extend from the fact that no one knows what they want with it. Do we want a high speed bomber? An interceptor? A CAS jet? A next generation Harrier? Instead of chosing one, they're trying as hard as they can to make the F-35 do everything and it doesn't seem to be working too well. They would probably be better off conceding the "fighter" role to the F-22 and just making the F-35 more an F-15E equivalent high speed bomber.

[PeriscopeDepth]

Originally Posted by CaptHawkeye

A lot of the problems with the F-35 just extend from the fact that no one knows what they want with it. Do we want a high speed bomber? An interceptor? A CAS jet? A next generation Harrier? Instead of chosing one, they're trying as hard as they can to make the F-35 do everything and it doesn't seem to be working too well. They would probably be better off conceding the "fighter" role to the F-22 and just making the F-35 more an F-15E equivalent high speed bomber.

I disagree. The F-22 would make a better "deep penetrator" F-15E type replacement than the F-35. And it is already paid for and here.

PD

[Zachstar]

The F-35 is going to be the last manned US fighter to be produced. And even so it is only going to last at most 2 decades before the bad guys start deploying lasers and things that can knock them down easier. So a one year delay is fine in my view as long as they actually get some benefit from it and do work to prevent further delays.