Live data from Hacker News

US military grounds entire fleet of F-35 jets

bbc.com

11–20 of 178 posts

Re: US military grounds entire fleet of F-35 jets

#11

If only it were permanent.

If the US were to permanently lose a big chunk of its airpower, Taiwan would have to rejoin China soon after.

Considering the US won't formally recognize Taiwan, they are, according to the US government, already part of China so I guess we apparently don't need that 'big chunk' of our airpower.

Re: US military grounds entire fleet of F-35 jets

#13

If only it were permanent.

Why? Air superiority is important for power projection. Edit: So I'm getting a comments here that are much lower-quality than I expect from this place. Geopolitics is not like interpersonal relationships. There is nobody governing governments. It's a free-for-all, literally the state of nature. In societies it seems like "Might makes right" is a dated concept, but you have to remember that's within the frame of a gov…

[deleted]

Re: US military grounds entire fleet of F-35 jets

#15
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Air superiority is important for power projection. Edit: So I'm getting a comments here that are much lower-quality than I expect from this place. Geopolitics is not like interpersonal relationships. There is nobody governing governments. It's a free-for-all, literally the state of nature. In societies it seems like "Might makes right" is a dated concept, but you have to remember that's within the frame of a gov…

[deleted]

[deleted]

Re: US military grounds entire fleet of F-35 jets

#16
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Air superiority is important for power projection. Edit: So I'm getting a comments here that are much lower-quality than I expect from this place. Geopolitics is not like interpersonal relationships. There is nobody governing governments. It's a free-for-all, literally the state of nature. In societies it seems like "Might makes right" is a dated concept, but you have to remember that's within the frame of a gov…

Do you really think that someone would attack the USA if they hadn't air superiority ?

Taiwan would fall. If the UN didn't establish air superiority during the Korean War, an entire country would have lost its freedom and would now be under a dictatorship.

Nowadays pretty much, if one side can establish air superiority, the other side is relegated to guerilla tactics. In terms of geopolitics in 2018, it's pretty much about air and naval bases.

Re: US military grounds entire fleet of F-35 jets

#17
post #5

I haven't been paying any specific attention to F-35 news, but I can only ever recall reading negative press. I know this particular project has been extra troubled, but is that the norm for new military vessels/vehicles?

I'm not an expert by any means, but as far as I know a lot of the issues are partially attributable to the fact the F-35 is trying to do everything for everyone. If that's true then I imagine planes that try to do one thing well have fewer issues on average.

Re: US military grounds entire fleet of F-35 jets

#19
post #5

I haven't been paying any specific attention to F-35 news, but I can only ever recall reading negative press. I know this particular project has been extra troubled, but is that the norm for new military vessels/vehicles?

It's very much the norm. The JSF is the safest program that's ever been fielded -- the Osprey had multiple crashes and fatalities at this stage of its development.

Government procurement needs an overhaul, and this program has been badly over budget and time, but it is delivering a successful product.

Post reply on HN