F35 - superfighter or lame duck?

[DrainBamage]

No it wont....2019 was what was just published

Of course Manonthestreet was wrong here as well, USMC flew a combat sortie in Afghanistan in 2018.

 

[DrainBamage]

the three models of the F-35 won’t be declared to have full combat capability until they undergo vigorous operational exercises. Those won’t begin until August 2018 at the earliest and then will last as long as a year. That would be a year later than planned. Lockheed’s F-35 Deals Barred Until Air Force Vouches for Fixes
DO nothing air force still all show, no punch til 2019.....

Here is Manonthestreet's brilliant wisdom again, F-35 was declared full combat capable with Block 3F and it's been used in combat by both Israel and USA.

 

[DrainBamage]

In 18 months how many more problems will be Id'd.....At current rate could be half dozen.....After fix is found then you have to mod all production planes which means what.....Another 12 to 24 months......By that time new design may be rdy to prototype.....f-35 is entering stopgap twilight to be ashcanned asap

F-35 will be dead long before F-16

LM delivered 91 F-35s in 2018, exactly as planned. Production target for 2019 in 130 F-35s. Japan just ordered over 100 more, on top of their initial 42. In October Belgium picked F-35 as it's new fighter, they want 34. Switzerland just kicked off their new fighter competition, want to guess what will win that? Germany is weighing the nuclear weapon sharing obligations in deciding how to replace their Tornadoes, Eurofighter isn't qualified but it's already on F-35s upgrade timeline.

Sure sounds like a program death spiral.

Sounds like Naval version is in real trouble...landing gear needs full rework.

USN just completed qualification of F-35C aboard USS Carl Vinson, expect to see F-35C declared IOC within a couple months. That landing gear issue you got all drama queen over turned out to be a minor tweak to the tension bar.

Sure sounds like real trouble.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

F-35 stealth jet 'will not be able to fire its guns until 2019'.

Well it's finally 2019, and of course we can now look back at Manonthestreet's steady stream of bullshit. F-35 was indeed firing it's get well before 2019 with the Block 3F release.

I have to give Monobreath aa break on this one. He's finally given up on this venture. I don't demand he come in and drop to his knees and beg forgiveness.

 

[there4eyeM]

With production now going, prices have been discounted. A recent contract made it over $800,000,000./ea.
Too many dollars, not enough sense.
Ooops! Big mistake. $89,000,000.00§
My apologies.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

With production now going, prices have been discounted. A recent contract made it over $800,000,000./ea.
Too many dollars, not enough sense.
Ooops! Big mistake. $89,000,000.00§
My apologies.

Meanwhile, a full tilt F-16 with half the toys goes for that much. And a full tilt F-15 goes for more than 115mil. The Bargain Basement F-18 still can be had for about 70mil. So at 89mil a copy, it's not out of line when compared to 4th gen fighters that have little chance against it in a war zone.

You can pay for last decades (actually a few decades old) which costs more or you can pay for something from this decade that is light years ahead. You do have a choice. Do you buy a F-150 Ford with one of the Best Records on the books or do you buy a used Chevy that's been run to death. Many countries are faced with this right now. If they can afford a new F-15(?) then they can also afford a new F-35A as long as the US is willing to sell it to them. If the US isn't willing then France has a deal for you at about the same price for a 4th gen fighter.

 

[there4eyeM]

It strikes this poster that the thinking is outmoded. Many, deadly, small and cheap will overwhelm few, big and expensive, I'm afraid. A.I. and long range stand off weapons could easily deplete present systems of defense. It is highly likely that aircraft carriers are today what battleships were in 1940. Little, cheap airplanes defeated the behemoths.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

It strikes this poster that the thinking is outmoded. Many, deadly, small and cheap will overwhelm few, big and expensive, I'm afraid. A.I. and long range stand off weapons could easily deplete present systems of defense. It is highly likely that aircraft carriers are today what battleships were in 1940. Little, cheap airplanes defeated the behemoths.

One would think that until you consider that those VunderVeapons that the Chinese and the Russians have to kill our carriers have to have so many things go right that the chance of them hitting within 200 miles of a carrier is more like a billion to one.

Okay, Fellas, they are getting ready to shoot their newest carrier killer missile at our carrier.

1. Kill all the engines
2. Turn off all countermeasures
3. Send all the support ships home
4. Turn on all the lights
5. Blare all the sirens

That should do it..............We'll wait.

What do you mean, they missed by 150 miles?

 

[Daryl Hunt]

It strikes this poster that the thinking is outmoded. Many, deadly, small and cheap will overwhelm few, big and expensive, I'm afraid. A.I. and long range stand off weapons could easily deplete present systems of defense. It is highly likely that aircraft carriers are today what battleships were in 1940. Little, cheap airplanes defeated the behemoths.

You left out what got those little cheap fighters there in the first place. The Carrier.

 

[there4eyeM]

The airplanes were just platforms for ordinance delivery. A man in a complicated and heavy plane guides a bomb to a ship.
Today, we fly the bomb itself much faster and much farther than those planes. Low cost, low risk, rapid fabrication time, no pilot training time.
Besides, if you don't have the wherewithal to build a fleet of carriers, you might vigorously seek other avenues, and humans are mighty inventive when it comes to destruction.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

The airplanes were just platforms for ordinance delivery. A man in a complicated and heavy plane guides a bomb to a ship.
Today, we fly the bomb itself much faster and much farther than those planes. Low cost, low risk, rapid fabrication time, no pilot training time.
Besides, if you don't have the wherewithal to build a fleet of carriers, you might vigorously seek other avenues, and humans are mighty inventive when it comes to destruction.

Doesn't it t make sense that if a country is capable of building the absolute best carriers force that it can also build the best other systems as well? Same goes for not being able to build the best carrier and then claiming all kinds of VunderVeapons. Our Military tracked all their DF-21 flights. Those are damned hard to hide. We know how they work, what makes them work and what makes them not work. I won't go into it all but there are 7 things that have to go perfect for them to hit a carrier and they haven't been able to get all 7 right yet.

And with all the Hoopidolah, the DF-21 is still a conventional Ballistic Missile that delivers a warhead package. The Aegis and others in that class are built to intercept those threats. Japan's new ship just intercepted a ballistic missile recently. The only reason the US doesn't knock every launch done by North Korea is that we don't want the other side to know our real capabilities. Plus, if one gets through, we look a bit foolish and it's almost certain if enough are launched something is going to get through. But attacking a carrier is another thing. They are going to throw up so much crap that nothing will get through no matter how you do it. That is, unless you use a lazer from space and don't think of your weapons system of being that safe either. The Navy doesn't brag about what it can do. They don't have to. The Chinese and the Russians do and they over brag a bit.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Funny I've seen claims of combat but no descriptions of said combat....3f is an incomplete machine and everyone knows but hey play ignorant if ya want and think it makes you look smart, BTW as for ground support you dont even have enough ammo for 1 gun run.....

 

[Daryl Hunt]

Funny I've seen claims of combat but no descriptions of said combat....3f is an incomplete machine and everyone knows but hey play ignorant if ya want and think it makes you look smart, BTW as for ground support you dont even have enough ammo for 1 gun run.....

But you do have enough rounds in the gun to drop a sd bomb from 30K within a few feet of the zero point without giving away your position. Or guiding in Naval Guns and Missiles well past their established ranges without giving away the F-35Bs position. Yah, I know, Monobreath, it still be incomplete until Mod 5A where it fries the Bacon and delivers the Eggs and Bacon to the Pilots Mess.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Funny I've seen claims of combat but no descriptions of said combat....3f is an incomplete machine and everyone knows but hey play ignorant if ya want and think it makes you look smart, BTW as for ground support you dont even have enough ammo for 1 gun run.....

But you do have enough rounds in the gun to drop a sd bomb from 30K within a few feet of the zero point without giving away your position. Or guiding in Naval Guns and Missiles well past their established ranges without giving away the F-35Bs position. Yah, I know, Monobreath, it still be incomplete until Mod 5A where it fries the Bacon and delivers the Eggs and Bacon to the Pilots Mess.

once you open bay doors you give away your position,

 

[Manonthestreet]

Funny I've seen claims of combat but no descriptions of said combat....3f is an incomplete machine and everyone knows but hey play ignorant if ya want and think it makes you look smart, BTW as for ground support you dont even have enough ammo for 1 gun run.....

But you do have enough rounds in the gun to drop a sd bomb from 30K within a few feet of the zero point without giving away your position. Or guiding in Naval Guns and Missiles well past their established ranges without giving away the F-35Bs position. Yah, I know, Monobreath, it still be incomplete until Mod 5A where it fries the Bacon and delivers the Eggs and Bacon to the Pilots Mess.

Naval guns in Afghanistan,,,,,,give that idiot a promotion

 

[Daryl Hunt]

Funny I've seen claims of combat but no descriptions of said combat....3f is an incomplete machine and everyone knows but hey play ignorant if ya want and think it makes you look smart, BTW as for ground support you dont even have enough ammo for 1 gun run.....

But you do have enough rounds in the gun to drop a sd bomb from 30K within a few feet of the zero point without giving away your position. Or guiding in Naval Guns and Missiles well past their established ranges without giving away the F-35Bs position. Yah, I know, Monobreath, it still be incomplete until Mod 5A where it fries the Bacon and delivers the Eggs and Bacon to the Pilots Mess.

once you open bay doors you give away your position,

Let's make things fair. Once you open those doors, you freeze in the air. Don't fly up, don't fly down, don't fly left and don't fly right. Just freeze in mid air. I know the F-35b can do this for a few minutes but now we have to figure out how to do it with the A and C models in order to comply with your requirements. Besides, the F-35 doors opened still makes him very stealthy. Not as stealthy as if they are closed. And they aren't open long enough for you to be certain there really is something there much less track and lock on long enough to get a kill. But we'll try and cooperate in the future by having the F-35 (all models) freeze in mid air once the open the launch doors.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

Funny I've seen claims of combat but no descriptions of said combat....3f is an incomplete machine and everyone knows but hey play ignorant if ya want and think it makes you look smart, BTW as for ground support you dont even have enough ammo for 1 gun run.....

But you do have enough rounds in the gun to drop a sd bomb from 30K within a few feet of the zero point without giving away your position. Or guiding in Naval Guns and Missiles well past their established ranges without giving away the F-35Bs position. Yah, I know, Monobreath, it still be incomplete until Mod 5A where it fries the Bacon and delivers the Eggs and Bacon to the Pilots Mess.

Naval guns in Afghanistan,,,,,,give that idiot a promotion

Meanwhile, back in the real world, there are F-35Bs just outside the South China Sea which the Chinese are quite aware of. You don't get out much, do you.

 

[Manonthestreet]

A-10s Come To The Rescue Of Desperate Troops In Afghanistan In This Awesome Gun Camera Footage
That's Close Air and F-35 is wholly deficient

 

[Manonthestreet]

Judging by latest Chinese statements they aren't impressed

 

[Daryl Hunt]

A-10s Come To The Rescue Of Desperate Troops In Afghanistan In This Awesome Gun Camera Footage
That's Close Air and F-35 is wholly deficient

That takes too long. Now to show the Grand Daddy to the Modern Close Air Support, the AC-130



Here is an AC working against the Taliban. Not real exiting for the AC but it was very exciting and very short for the objectives. This bird can even kill running individuals. And he's above the threshold altitude for most ground fired shoulder fired guns and missiles. He goes where A-10s fear to enter. And while the A-10 is good for one short mission of no more than 150 miles one way, the AC will be in the air for 6 to 8 hours with plenty of ammo (25mm, 30mm, 40mm, 105mm, Hellfires depending on the model) The thumping you hear is the firing of the 40mm. It fires a clip off 5 at a time and they speed load it. The 40mm was taken right off decommissioned Naval Destroyers.



So go ahead and talk up the need for the A-10. Meanwhile, it's mission is done better by the AC-130 that was originally designed for that mission instead of just adapted to it. They aren't buying any more A-10s but they ARE buying more AC-130s. I know these birds well. Let me introduce one that I am very, very familiar with.