F-35 jets: US military grounds entire fleet

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

6 minutes ago

The US military has temporarily grounded its entire fleet of F-35 fighter jets in the wake of a crash in South Carolina last month.

Inspections are to be carried out on faulty fuel tubes.

An official report questioned earlier this year whether the F-35 was ready for combat after dozens of faults were found.

The F-35 is the largest and most expensive weapons programme of its type in the world.

-snip-


Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45827795

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Last Line Is A Bit Weak

Aside from the Manhattan Project, it's the most expensive weapons program ever!!!

[ChazInAz]

2. One other thing.

The Manhattan project ran for less than five years, and was horrifyingly successful. Also, I don't think any aerospace companies made billions from it.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Fair Enough

But on an inflation adjusted basis, it was the most expensive weapons program ever
Thing with the F35 is that it's reasonably questionable if we even needed that plane.
So less money adjusted, but much of it a waste.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. I think the B-29 Superfortress development was costlier than Manhattan project.

The B29 flew high and fast enough to escape the a-bomb's blast with no damage.

[marble falls]

3. In thirty years of development, it still doesn't fly.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. McCain nailed this thing as a Farce

decades ago.

Corporate Welfare at it's finest.

[marble falls]

13. This is the most expensive boondoggle ever. Wait till it really starts killing people.

History repeating itself only worse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter

[Achilleaze]

5. republicans put a 5-time draft-dodging casino hustler in charge

as their so-called "commander-in-chief" and everything goes to Hell. Stupid move.

[xor]

9. Trump is a jerk/moron/evil sadist/jackass/etc, but the F-35 has been an issue for much longer than

Trump has been around. This is a systemic program with how these defense programs are run. They are just asking for waste and inefficiencies that often leads to less effective weapon systems that end up costing even more money to get working right.

[brush]

6. It's been a dud since inception. How does one plane replace the A-10 and F-15...

F-16 and F-22?

It's supposed to be a multi-role aircraft that does close air support like the A-10 while also having the capability of an air-to-air, combat fighter like the F-15s, F-16s and F-22s.

Never gonna work despite the billions spent.

[DeminPennswoods]

11. USAF has never wanted the close air support role

They should give the A-10 to the Marines who will know what to do with it.

F/A-18 was sold as a fighter/bomber to replace the F-14 and A-6/A-4/A-7 and trainer aircraft. It does neither role well and is already up to about 4 different configurations as it tries to fill all the aircraft roles.

[maxrandb]

8. The Navy also "loves" that it's a single engine to replace the F18

Although the Navy has operated numerous single engine jets in the past, dual-engine redundancy was considered important considering that you'd have to land the thing on a postage stamp, 6,000 miles from any land, and catch a metal wire about the width of silver dollar to stop you.

It's a joke. We used to call it the Lockheed Martin sustainment jet.

[End Of The Road]

12. Adding insult to injury, new GAO report says our new weapons are very hackable.

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/09/655880190/cyber-tests-showed-nearly-all-new-pentagon-weapons-vulnerable-to-attack-gao-says

[jrandom421]

14. Traditional for any Lockheed aircraft

While Lockheed has always built technically advanced aircraft, it's taken time to work out the kinks and bugs. The F-104 Starfighter wasn't really ready for operations, until the J version. Same for the iconic P-38. Given time, the bugs get worked out and they do prove to be excellent aircraft.

[sandensea]

15. Another military pork barrel boondoggle. Imagine that.

It would've have been almost shocking if it hadn't been.

Thanks for keeping up with the proligate - but mostly forgotten - F-35 scandal, Eugene. They may not be able to fly in the rain; but it can sure walk between the raindrops.

[DeminPennswoods]

16. Not that uncommon

Aircraft are grounded for inspection more often than you think, especially if it's a safety issue as this is.

All new aircraft have bugs and kinks as their capabilities are all over-hyped during the procurement and development process. We often jokingly spoke about the ficticious "Rosey Scenario".