108 F-35s Will Not Be Combat Capable
realcleardefense.com
realcleardefense.com
The problem with this is that the US is spending insane amounts of money for what will not be a very effective plane in any particular role. Defenders will say that the JSF can do more things than any other plane, but what is the point if in combat the plane is not the best at the role it is sent to perform?
It's hard to know what to do at this point, perhaps just keep the JSF as a VTOL replacement (there is no other) and keep some for the Air Force. At the ranges our navy will need to engage in Asia, they should think about drones and planes that are built to work very well with drones.
*https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/u-s-marines-will-keep-the-...
Now, if the resource wars kick off between developed nations in the next decade and a half the investment might be worth it ... maybe.
So when we see so-called "bad decisions" resulting in useless aircraft, useless stealth ships, and a whole chain of military equipment fiascos (up to and including $10,000 hammers) you really have to wonder whether the KGB won the cold war after all. We now know that the USA ran a decades long campaign to subvert the Soviet Union by sowing corruption deep within the Soviet system. How could the KGB not have done the same? Also, the Soviet Union disbanded itself quite abruptly and unexpectedly. Students of the KYB and of Russian strategy seriously wonder whether this was done to prevent the ultimate endgame in the US plan which would see Russia balkanized into a dozen small squabbling countries. Watch the film "The Turkish Gambit" to get an idea of the kind of chess games that Russians are capable of playing.
The idea that Russia's military is "renewed" is laughable. 30 years ago they were a global superpower. Today they can't field one aircraft carrier without needing a tow. Russia is a regional power with a nuclear deterrent. And despite the rhetoric, Russia only wants to be a regional power. Their military is calibrated for that. To the extent that Russia messes with the U.S., it is only to keep the U.S. from interfering in what Russia considers to be its sphere of influence. Russia does not have the capability or interest in direct military confrontation with the U.S.
This happens every where there is humans with egos and politics in it's many forms and I doubt the KGB has infiltrated all of them.
Is this something you read somewhere, liked how it felt, and are repeating it? Or do you have numbers, and if so show us.
How about you fix your democracy and stop blaming everyone else?
Update: A U.S. Air Force official tells Popular Mechanics that, "the Air Force plans to upgrade all aircraft in question to Software Block 3F."
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a28685/f-3...
Who knows what will actually happen.
IOW, VHF radars tell you generally where incoming planes are so you have a chance of shooting at them when they're right on top of you.
https://thediplomat.com/2014/08/the-f-35-vs-the-vhf-threat/
IR is even worse. I wouldn't want to stake my life on something that only works in good weather.
If the Russians are relying on VHF and IRST they're going to get slaughtered in a stand-up fight against stealth aircraft.
No idea if anything like this is actually in use anywhere, or whether it was/is just an academic curiosity.
It's not beyond the realms of possibility that nations could see themselves in a war for dwindling resources on the planet in the next 30 to 40 years.
There's a great (old/free) sci-fi story with the same premise (of which I can't remember the name right now). In it the leading power is engaged in a war which they should win easily, but then they keep inventing all these new and great technologies. However every time they try and implement a new one they give up more ground until in the end they're in a bit of trouble.
> We were defeated by one thing only - by the inferior science of our enemies.
Sounds almost like an F-35 :-)
it should be between the f35 and a different program which isn't a gross hodgepodge of the demands of everyone and their mom. concurrency, one size fits-all-fighter...madness.
But worth pointing out that right now, there are ~13 active duty USAF F16 squadrons, something like 17 ANG squadrons, and ~5 training squadrons. That's roughly 6:1. The USAF was planning (who knows...) to get something like 1500+ F-35s. Even at 12 active airframes per training airframe, you'd still be able to absorb 108 airframes.
If these airframes can be made into sufficiently good trainer airframes, then it could be okay.
That's a big if though, looks like Block 2B have lower G limits than the Block 3s - don't know if that's a real structural thing, or just software qualification stuff.
Would it be true for developing a plane that is less ambitious?
Like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_F/A-18E/F_Super_Hornet#...
But when you look at the history of Russia who went from an agricultural peasant nation in 1917 to the WWII powerhouse that beat the Nazis in 1944, followed by an encore in rebuilding their country to the point where they had the first TV network in 1950, first space satellite, first man in space, detonated a hydrogen bomb only 10 months after the USA, you can see that these people are not dummies.
After decades of studying the Russians, I think the clearest way to explain who they are, is they are a nation of builders. Of course they are human and not perfect, but overall they know how to build all kinds of things and they fearlessly push forward with project after project all over their vast expanse of territory.
99% of what people say about Russia is wrong and rooted in ignorance because too few Westerners will learn Russian and get their info direct from the source. This means that Russia has not had to worry about keeping secrets from the USA because the USA does it for them. Electronic warfare capabilities are a case in point. And when you learn how the Soviets defeated American stealth aircraft capabilities even before they were deployed, you wonder why the USA spent the money to develop it.
I agree. After studying and travelling through Russia, I'm in awe at the skill of their engineers and scientists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textron_AirLand_Scorpion
Unfortunately they seem to be having a hard time selling the plane. Just shows that going against a broken system doesn't always pay off.