The Gates visit. Much to comment on this at a later time. Excuse me, I have to sneeze.
In Fort Worth, Gates Supports F-35, Opposes F136
Monthly Archives: August 2009
Flexible Flight Test Schedule?
“The flight schedule is pretty flexible. We’ve got plenty of flexibility and time to make up for any testing delays.”
Just a reminder. Over 300 flight tests were supposed to happen in fiscal year 2009 which will be over in a month. We have for this FY over 30 flight tests. FY2010 is scheduled for over 1200 flight tests—plus the makeup work from FY2009. The following comments from the same article look like an attempt to minimize the importance of flight testing. “Lockheed officials say the flight tests are only part of the package of component testing and other steps being taken to develop and prove the F-35 technology and get the aircraft into production and service.”
It will be interesting to see what statements come from Gates after the dog and pony show.
Airborne Laser
This is P.R. but it is interesting P.R…. Given the recent test it is a bit outdated but it has some good info.
Balibo
Saw Balibo at the movies. Academy award winning stuff if it was allowed to be although it is an independent film. Because it is independent it doesn’t play everywhere. I was lucky enough to see it at the theater.
It is about 5 Australian journalists that get killed by the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975.
Get it on DVD if you can when you can.
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JSTARS Mishap Report Summary
A Tale of Two Engines
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…..”
Words from a retired Marine on the F-35 two engine vendor debate.
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As the former Director/ Deputy Director of the Joint Strike Fighter Program (1997-2001) and Deputy Commandant of Aviation (2002-2006), I have watched with disappointment over the last few months as those advocates of sole-sourcing the F-35 with only the Pratt & Whitney engine have attempted to spin a tale of myth and innuendo to deliberately muddy the waters around the issue of the competition of the engine for the F-35. Let me set the record straight.
First, there was no JSF engine competition as part of the overall air frame competition. We didn’t compete the JSF engine … it never happened! In 1995, the three primes in the competition selected the core of F-22 engine (119) to power the JSF demonstrators during the Program Definition & Risk Reduction Phase (1996-2001). This was done to leverage the maturity of the F-22’s 119 engine core to not only save money, but also to save time by reducing the cycle time of the phase to meet the milestones in the aggressive demonstration schedule. Although it was simple as that, it was “not” a competition!
Lt. General, USMC (Retired)
The L-band “game-changer”
I thought I would use that “game-changer” thingy since all the big defense companies use it when hyping their gold-plated wonders.
If ever there is a time to use that term it is now.
The Ru-tech industry wants to put L band arrays into the wings of fighters. If your Walmart-stealth aircraft doesn’t have super-cruise and extreme altitude for backup you are going to have problems. If only time stood still when the requirements for the Joint Strike Fighter were drawn up in the 1990s. More problems? Over-investment to the tune of billions in stealth-only as a defensive solution. Maybe if you are a partner nation looking at the Buick of Stealth, you might want to consider something a little more sensible—and affordable.
Interesting as the F-35 was meant to do its work after the F-22 has cleared the table of the big threats. Tell that to the marketing pukes crowing “go-it-alone”.
hat tip: Defunct Humanity
Where are the flag wavers?
“Can’t the press wave the b.s. flag when Gates makes the answer up?” the staffer asked. “What is Gates talking about?”
It would be nice. On a whole range of topics….
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PW hopes and dreams
However; without a significant amount of F-35 flight testing throughout the whole flight envelope, without knowing if the STOVL variant will deliver on the promise in significant areas, without having an F-35 squadron surge as part of some OPEVAL etc, without a significant amount of orders, without knowing a whole bunch of things like thermal issues and so on, we won’t know what an F-35 engine will cost.
“Marine Corps Brigadier General David Heinz last month cited significant cost growth on the 30-year estimate for the Pratt engine, saying it was slated to rise to $8.3 million per engine from $6.7 million, the biggest increase since 2001.”
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2020 and beyond
With fun little clubs like SCO, post 2020 might be a real pain. Here is a look at some of their backup.
