Doggle That Boon, Fellas: In Which We Revisit the F-35

More money for nothing, as we learn about another glitch with the F-35 strike-fighter program.

Military • March 2015 • Views: 1,889

It’s been a while since we checked in with the F-35, the new strike-fighter also known as the Flying Swiss Army Knife, and a gigantic lemon from which no lemonade ever can be made. The money pit that is the F-35 program has now grown so deep that it is very possible that some of the money tossed into it is now turning up in Shanghai. The latest glitch finds us in a situation in which the plane won’t be able to carry its state-of-the-art ordnance for another seven years, at least.

More: Doggle That Boon, Fellas: In Which We Revisit the F-35

F-35 Strike-Fighter Program

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6 comments

Romantic Heretic Mar 11, 2015 7:22:55pm

Combat aircraft should be designed for specific purposes. Trying to be all things to all people means that the ting will be noting to nobody.

It might be, as in the P47 Thunderbolt in WWII, that they’ll find an aircraft that is okay in the role it was designed for excels in another role. But generally I believe it’s best to have combat aircraft built for a specific purpose.

Witness the A10.

Dark_Falcon Mar 12, 2015 4:34:21am

re: #1 Romantic Heretic

Combat aircraft should be designed for specific purposes. Trying to be all things to all people means that the ting will be noting to nobody.

It might be, as in the P47 Thunderbolt in WWII, that they’ll find an aircraft that is okay in the role it was designed for excels in another role. But generally I believe it’s best to have combat aircraft built for a specific purpose.

Witness the A10.

However, the US has had success with multi-role combat aircraft, as witness the F-4 Phantom II and the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

William Barnett-Lewis Mar 12, 2015 4:38:16am

This POS will, however, make the F-111B look like a resounding success at the multirole mission.

It’s time for it to go the way of the MBT-70 so that an airborne M-1 Abrams can result instead.

Romantic Heretic Mar 12, 2015 7:14:09am

re: #2 Dark_Falcon

However, the US has had success with multi-role combat aircraft, as witness the F-4 Phantom II and the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Can’t speak to the Falcon as I don’t know enough about it.

However the Phantom wasn’t that successful at the air superiority role until programs like Top Gun and Red Flag were implemented. It was believed that missiles would make dogfighting unnecessary, and that belief was wrong. Also I believe that as a general rule Phantom crews tended to get assigned to one role or another depending on what they were trained for or their experience.

I can’t help but feel that a plane designed for a single role with a properly trained crew/pilot would have accomplished more at less cost.

Higgs Boson's Mate Mar 12, 2015 7:23:18am

With the F-35 the USAF is fighting to maintain the status quo of steely-eyed Top Guns strapped into the seats of the latest and greatest. It will burn in hell before it acknowledges that, for the moment, its primary role is CAS and that remotely piloted, semi-autonomous combat aircraft can and will perform the air superiority role better and more cheaply than manned fighters.

William Barnett-Lewis Mar 12, 2015 2:10:13pm

Exactly. It’s time to admit that the idea of a separate AF has failed and to put mud moving back under the Army & give the strategic role to the Navy.

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