Snapshot of future USAF fighter/AWACS mix
So what could the USAF fighter/AWACs mix of the future look like in the 2020’s and beyond? A look at Australia has some clues.
Troubled and not quite ready, Australia is receiving the Boeing Wedgetail. As can be seen from this review of the aircrafts capabilities, (note: broad sensor capability …not all air to air support) once it is all figured out, it should hold significant AWACS performance in an affordable airframe.
If USAF gets lucky and the F-35 delivers capability without breaking the bank, a future AEF deployment could end up with a fighter/AWACs mix of F-35s, Wedgetails and another Australian thing currently in contention in the U.S.—the possibility of an Airbus A330-200 tanker for support.
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When “too big to fail” becomes a threat
How much of a threat is the F-35 to the well-being of the U.S. air power roadmap?
Given the high risks associated with the program compounded by DOD senior leadership decisions at the roulette wheel, the F-35 presents a huge risk to the ability of the U.S. to project air power in the coming years.
What appears to be indifference to reality means that the U.S. is stopping production of an existing air domination aircraft–the F-22–and hoping that everything will just work out with the F-35.
Many have been promised a lot of money on the F-35 gravy train. Industry, communities where it is to be based, politicians, stockholders and military planners. It seems that much of the global groupthink for those involved with the F-35 are hoping everything will just work out. The fantasy pushed by faith-based marketing is at it’s most outrageous.
The comments some time back stating that the USAF could get “bled-white” by the F-35 program hold true for the whole of the DOD and maybe beyond.
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The truth about the F-35 program’s delusions of grandeur
This post from Plane Talking hits some high notes in relation to the problems of the F-35 marketing delusion followed by many.
In the post is a piece published by Winslow Wheeler. I agree with him on some things, and disagree on other things.
I think he is right on the F-35.
I do believe he is off the mark on some of his other beliefs. That being his position that the F-22 is bad. I disagree. Or that the USAF should work toward 10,000 airframes. I disagree; there isn’t money to support the manpower to sustain such a thing.
On CAS Winslow and crew believe that only slower aircraft can do CAS. I disagree. The evidence being JDAM and similar PGMs with ground forward air controllers doing an outstanding job. It isn’t always about platform speed when one of the prime decision makers of the kill is the guy on the ground supported by a GPS/INS weapon with a sub 4 meter CEP in near any weather. This isn’t theory. It has been proven for years. An aside to that though is for useless dirt wars of which we are currently engaged, something like an OV-10 does have its uses.
But back to the F-35. Some are beginning to wake up. Others though need the program as a giant money spinner no matter what. Casey Jones and all that.
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Gordon Brown taken to task…
This is the attention to detail of those running wars and making decisions. British P.M. Gordon Brown writes a letter to a mother who’s son was lost in Afghanistan. It had multiple spelling errors and mistakes. It don’t go over well with the grieving mother. He calls her to apologise. That doesn’t go well either. The PM got educated about what he doesn’t know.
MRS JANES: I’m sorry, you know, I have the deepest respect for the fact that you are Prime Minister but I am the mother of a soldier who, really, you know, his death could have been prevented in several ways, lack of helicopters being the main one.
GORDON BROWN: I don’t think so but, er, obviously you are entitled to your views. We have tried to do everything we can to protect people against these explosive devices.
MRS JANES: Er, Mr Brown, Mr Brown can I just step in here. My sons are fifth generation infantry I’m not silly. I have had lots of info from different people who I know from within the Army. I know about Chinooks that, er, were meant to be brought up to the Mark III standards but went wrong so they’re no good.
I know about the Merlins that have been brought back from Iraq and are still sitting in this country.
I know of another soldier that sustained the same injuries from an IED that my son sustained and he’s alive. All right, limbless, but alive. My son wasn’t given that opportunity…
BROWN: Er, I, I
MRS JANES: The letter that you wrote to me Mr Brown…
BROWN: Yes
MRS JANES: I don’t want to sound disrespectful here, but was an insult to my child. There was 25 spelling mistakes, 25!
BROWN: There wasn’t.
MRS JANES: Mr Brown I’ve got the letter in front of me…
BROWN: I’ve got the letter in front of me and if you feel that my writing was not right then I’m sorry about that.
MRS JANES: I’m not saying, I’m not saying, no, no, no… I have made no comment about how your writing looked. But other people have seen this letter as well. And as for my serving soldier in Catterick…
BROWN: Yes.
MRS JANES: You know he has to now live with the fact that there was nothing he could have done. He was a more senior soldier than Jamie. Jamie was very proud to be a soldier, very proud.
BROWN: You know you know that I wrote to you, er, a handwritten letter because I was…
MRS JANES: Listen to me…
BROWN: … because I was concerned about the death of your son…
MRS JANES: Listen to me, please. I am looking at the letter now…
BROWN: You know I did write the letter because I was concerned about the death of your son and I don’t think what I said in it was disrespectful at all.
MRS JANES: I never said it was disrespectful. The spelling mistakes are disrespectful.
BROWN: Er…
MRS JANES: The fact that you named me Mrs James was disrespectful.
BROWN: I think I think I was trying to say Janes, as your right name. Maybe, maybe my writing looks bad but I was trying to say your right name. And I spelt Jamie right as well I understand.
MRS JANES: Erm, I beg to differ. I’ve got the letter in front of me so I do beg to differ.
BROWN: I, I, well…
MRS JANES: I can not believe I have been brought down to the level of having an argument with the Prime Minister of my own country
BROWN: Well I wanted to assure you that everything that I have tried to do is both protect our forces and when, when your son died I wanted to send my respect to you and write a letter that appreciated the service that he had given to the country. And I think if you are able to look at the letter again, and I know it is something that’s very difficult to do when you’re receiving letters about something that is so personal, you you’ll see that I said Jamie was a brave, selfless, professional soldier who was held in the highest esteem and regard by all who worked with him and I tried to say that words may offer little comfort at this time but I hope that over time you would find some consolation in his courage and in his bravery and in the great contributions he made to the security of his country and I then said if I can help in any way please, please tell me and I would have been very happy to have received a letter from you and replied again or if you’d asked to meet me I would have met you. So…
MRS JANES: I think, I think at this stage…
BROWN: Please understand my good intentions and I’m sorry you feel so strongly about, er, about, er, the way I wrote the letter but I hope that on reflection you’ll understand that I have the greatest of sympathy for you and I…
MRS JANES: … I’m not, I’m not doubting that, I am not doubting the whole of the country has the greatest of sympathy for me. What I do know for a fact is that our soldiers out there – they should be out there by the way, I do truly believe in my heart of hearts that the troops should be out there. We do need more troops out there for a start, we do need the helicopters out there. That’s a fact. I know for fact of certain different pilots working out of Kandahar that on some occasions there is only one Casevac (casualty evacuation) helicopter available.
BROWN: Well, I, I, I’m sorry that that that’s the information that, er, you’ve been…
MRS JANES: But I know it’s fact and not fiction.
BROWN: Well, OK, OK, I don’t want to argue with you because I want to actually pass on my condolences and I want to assure you that although you’ve taken some offence against a letter I’ve written I’ve tried to reflect my personal sadness at the loss of your son, er, and I don’t want to have any, erm, argument with you about it.
If you feel strongly that I’ve done you wrong then that’s for you to decide but I want to assure you that there was never any intention on my part to do anything other than pass on my condolences to you and to your your, your family, understanding that you are a a military family and that you have given great service as a family to our country, er, and I hope that, er, that on reflection you, you will understand that I was trying to do the best by, by our country and trying to reflect the sadness that Sarah and I have at the loss of your son.
I, I’m sorry that I have been unable to persuade you of that but that is how I feel, that is that is how I feel.
MRS JANES: Right, can I now just say how I feel?
BROWN: Yes please.
MRS JANES: Many many years ago, in 18-something, somebody said the biggest enemy of our Army was our Treasury… they were so right.
BROWN: I, I…
MRS JANES: Even to this day..
BROWN: I, I…
MRS JANES: Mr Brown, to this day, I know as fact helping my sons buy equipment themselves before they go to war, I know of every mother, the letters I have received off mothers whose sons have been killed, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, you know, friends of mine that were killed in Northern Ireland.
I know that our Government are letting our troops down, big time.
BROWN: But I’m sorry I would not send anybody abroad unless I felt that they were properly equipped and, er, what I’ve told the Army chiefs that we cannot send people abroad unless we can properly equip them.
MRS JANES: But they’re not properly equipped and we both know this.
BROWN: That…
MRS JANES: Why are… then please tell me why are all the Merlins still in this country that have since come back from Iraq?
BROWN: The reason the Merlins, er, came back from Iraq and are in the country and about to go out to Afghanistan is that they have to be completely remodelled with new blades because you cannot fly the Merlins that were flying in Iraq in Afghanistan, which is a different terrain, er, and, er, the height is different and the, the temperature is different.
MRS JANES: So what, what…
BROWN: The helicopter pilots have got to go to America to be trained in the high altitude and in night light. I’ve been to see the helicopters myself and I’ve seen how they’ve had to be regraded, er, so they can actually fly in Afghanistan and you cannot take the helicopters straight from Iraq to Afghanistan because they need these new blades and that’s, that’s I’m afraid the reason why, although three I think, are going in the next three weeks, it’s taken time to get the Iraq Merlins ready for Afghanistan.
I’m sorry that is the case but that is the reality. We had to re-equip the helicopters to…
MRS JANES: I know what has to be done. I have been made aware of what needed to be done. But nobody has replaced the Chinooks that were, erm, how can we put it, that went wrong.
BROWN: I, I don’t I, I, I wanted to speak to you because of the controversy, erm, that you’ve, erm, you’ve erm, obviously that surrounded… that I had every intention of, er, of passing on the condolences of myself and on behalf of the country. Er, er, I’m sorry that you’ve taken offence about that…
MRS JANES: I didn’t take offence that you were writing me a letter of condolence. It was the amount of spelling mistakes. It was just like an absolute insult to my child, who, by the way, was only 20 years old.
BROWN: I understand that he was only 20 years old but I’m sorry I don’t think I did have spelling mistakes. My writing is maybe so badly (muffled) that you can’t read it and I’m sorry. But I have tried to write honestly and honourably about the contributions your son made and… (muffled) can’t be read. I know from colleagues Jamie was a brave, selfless professional soldier held in the highest regard.
MRS JANES: I don’t need anyone to tell me how brave my son was. My son paid the ultimate, ultimate sacrifice.
BROWN: OK, Miss Janes, I’m sorry, that I can’t, I can’t, er, satisfy you, but I have tried my best, er, to er, show you this evening that if there’s been some misunderstanding about how my…
MRS JANES: I do appreciate you taking the time to phone me but I’m afraid we are going to have to, erm, disagree.
BROWN: Well that’s that’s, I, I, I know how strongly you, you feel.
MRS JANES: No, Mr Brown, Mr Brown, listen to me… I know every injury that my child sustained that day. I know that my son could have survived but my son bled to death. How would you like it if one of your children, God forbid, went to a war doing something that he thought, where he was helping protect his Queen and country and because of lack, LACK of helicopters, lack of equipment your child bled to death and then you had the coroner have to tell you his every injury?
Do you understand Mr Brown? Lack of equipment.
BROWN: I do understand but I think you, you have got to also understand that I feel very strongly about this as, as you do.
MRS JANES: So where’s all the money? You can save a bank. You can put seven whatever into saving a bank. Why not put it into the troops? We all know they are not going to be brought home and I am glad they are there to help.
BROWN: I’m sorry Miss Janes…
MRS JANES: No, Mr Brown.
BROWN: I’m sorry, Miss Janes, we have tried to give the troops the equipment they need and I have tried my best…
MRS JANES: And failed…
BROWN: Well if it’s not good enough for, for them they’ll have to make their own decisions but I have tried my best…
MRS JANES: Even Army hierarchy are retiring and telling you what is going wrong and still you send 500 more troops not the 2,000 needed.
BROWN: I’m sorry, I’m sorry…
MRS JANES: You’re making it sound like my son and every other child that has been killed in a savage manner…
BROWN: Nobody was asking for 2,000 more troops
MRS JANES: Really?
BROWN: Yes, nobody was asking for 2,000 troops, there are 9,000, 9,100 there at the moment, increasing to 9,500 the, the chiefs of staff are not asking for it to go up to 11,000 or 11,500. I just tell you that honestly. Whatever information you’ve been given, that is not correct. But I don’t want to interact in a political debate about this…
MRS JANES: No that’s fine. Nor do I.
BROWN: What I want to do is to pass on my condolences and to say, however strongly you feel about my mistakes in this matter, I still feel very, very personally sad about the death of your son and I want you to know that and I’m sorry if you’ve taken offence at my letter.
I’ve tried my best, er, to faithfully reflect my feelings about the loss of your son and the contribution he made, er, and, er, thank you very much for talking to me this evening.
MRS JANES: Thank you very much
BROWN: Er, and I’m sorry that we can’t agree but I hope you’ll agree that I’ve tried my best to pass on my condolences, on to you and your family.
MRS JANES: Thank you very much.
BROWN: Thank you.
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Good people gone…
One that couldn’t wait to deploy to help others, is killed by the enemy.
A half-hour later, his doorbell rang.
“There were two [soldiers] in Class A uniforms. I knew what that was all about.”
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The wrong loyalties in the wrong job
This from a serving U.S. Army Officer:
"I’m a Muslim first and I hold the Shariah, the Islamic Law, before the United States Constitution."
But yeah; move along, nothing to see here.
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Carter- Plan to reorganise the F-35 program
The top U.S. DOD acquisition official Ashton Carter has taken the Joint Estimates Team warnings of F-35 program cost growth and delays to heart. A meeting is scheduled for later in the month to seek a way to avoid adverse events predicted by the JET team.
James Fallows of The Atlantic, wonders what has happened to the program he wrote about so long ago. In other news, Inside Defense reports that the first production representative U.S. Navy F-35C known as CF-1–rolled out months ago–will fly sometime "early next year". It would be nice if AF-1, the first USAF production representative F-35A–rolled out in December 2008– would fly. Hopefully soon.
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Bad year for Boeing
Boeing’s cultural sense of time seems to be on the Mexican standard. That is; not very exact. There are exceptions (Boeing Super Hornet etc) but timelines on the Boeing 787, Boeing 747-8 and Boeing Wedgetail have suffered.
Add the Italian 767 tanker to that list. They are still trying to fix the refueling system.
Boeing’s delivery of 767 tanker aircraft to the Italian Air Force has slipped again as the company fixes a problem with the hose-and-drogue refueling system, a senior Italian defense source said.
Italy ordered four tankers in 2002, with deliveries first expected in 2005, before a series of hitches, including vibrations in wing pylons, pushed the schedule back.
Italy is waiting to begin official checks on its first tanker before taking formal delivery, a process known as the tender for acceptance (TFA). In September 2008, Boeing officials said the TFA would start by the end of 2008.
The source said the start date was subsequently pushed back to the end of November 2009.
"That provisional TFA date has now slipped to January 2010," he said. "But that is just guesswork, and things could change from week to week." If the January appointment is kept, all four tankers could yet be delivered during 2010, he added.
Italy has ordered tankers with four different refueling points: A boom that extends from the rear of the aircraft, two hose-and-drogue systems extending from wing pods, and a central hose and drogue extending from the fuselage between the wings. Japan, which has also ordered the Boeing tanker, requested a boom but no hose-and-drogue systems.
In 2007, Boeing fixed a flutter problem on the pylons holding the wing pods on the Italian aircraft. The fix proved successful during test flights.
The new problem, said the source, concerns the stability in flight of the central drogue, or basket, fixed to the end of the refueling hose that is extended from the center line of the fuselage.
"Boeing is dedicating a team to fixing this latest problem," the source said. "They appear to have found a solution, but test flying has yet to confirm it, and we have been down this road before."
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Fix the obscene defence procurement process
‘Obscene’ defence costs are not "necessary". Cosgrove seems a bit confused on the process. He wants the gullible public to believe that is just how things are.
Before embarking on yet another fool’s errand of a defence purchase, it would be better to fix the obscene state of Defence procurement and sustainment.
"Cheap defence equals high risk and low comfort."
Today, expensive defence equals high risk and low comfort. So what’s the point?
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