China already has the plans.  Might as well just wait; they'll be cheaper at Walmart.

Just curious, when was the F-35 supposed to be originally delivered?

Why do we continue to fund an aircraft that has consistantly had problems, especially when we don't have that kind of coin? Why don't we go with something more affordable like the F-15 Silent Eagle, or the F-18 Block III?

I keep reading these references to China and Wal-Mart. Have you shopped at a Wal-Mart in China? It's very different from the Wal-Marts in the US. They're like a second thought with a smaller location, sometimes above a main store, and with different products obviously for a different demographic.



 

Is the F35 really that much better than a Super Hornet or an Eagle?  If not than I say we upgrade the shit outta those.  If it is a much better plane than we need to get it operational.  Air Dominance wins wars, and the US needs to stay ahead of the  Russians and Chinese.

Throwing money down the hole.

Yeah it's got some problems.  So how's Canada's 5th generation fighter coming along?  Oh that's right, the F35 IS the new Canadian 5th generation fighter; my bad.

It's a good thing we scrubbed the F-22...

Because we have no other viable options to fall back on. We elected to go from a modest stealthy fleet of aircraft (the F-117) in favor of a total stealth fleet of 5th generation fighters in the Air Force (the F-22 and the F-35). To do so was an obvious game changer. Once we went beyond a token stealth force, the rest of the world had to respond. So Russia and China developed their own stealth fighters. They likely aren't close to being on par with the F-22 or F-35. But their low RCS and powerful radars will likely mean they are still significantly superior to anything we operate that isn't an F-22 or F-35. Of course we screwed the pooch by only buying 187 Raptors, then stopping production. So now the only game left in town is the F-35. We've put all of our eggs in that basket and have no choice but to continue the program. If we scrapped the F-35, we take the very serious risk of losing air superiority if and when the PAK-FA and J-20 take to the skies in significant numbers. No matter how much you try to warm up an F-15 or F-18, they'll still be inferior to aircraft a generation ahead of them with significantly better low observables technology. And it would take a decade or longer to even start to field an alternative to the F-35 at this point. Look at how long the F-22 and F-35 development process has played out.

I'm not sure what you're getting at? The F-35 program is nothing to be proud of. Canada could probably have domestically developed and fielded their own fighter by now.

I understand that modern stealth warplanes are extremely complex weapons systems, but there is something fundamentally wrong with procurement and production processes when it comes to these weapons systems. Lockheed and company needs to get their shit straight.

Years late and billions over budget all for an advantageous gimmick that could theoretically be completely negated tomorrow should a rival country come up with a reliable detection system.

Ya we do. F-15Ks and F-16Es (or equivalents) in the interim, and drop the silly 'all in one' mandate on the F-35 and reboot the whole damned project.

But they didn't...that's my point.  Yeah the F-35 is getting to be a big embarrassment, no doubt about it.  I just hope that we get a decent product eventually.

Uh, what?