Live data from Hacker News

Pentagon Puts F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision on Hold

thedrive.com

261–267 of 267 posts

Re: Pentagon Puts F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision on Hold

#261
post #256

I have only read about the F35 and seen a few videos. Can someone check my understanding? The F35 has the same or even better air superiority capabilities than the F22. It will have electronic command and control capabilities that will remove the need for AWACS or JSTARS. The vision is that the F35 will defeat any enemy aircraft, enemy air defenses, and provide the sensor coverage that will enable fleets of drones to…

No, the F22 has much better capabilities than the F35, and many of them are kept secret. The F22 is designed to be the 'Uber Alpha' of the Skies and to have no peer. It's made in the USA and is not sold to allies. The F35 is a 'secondary 5th gen fighter. Cheaper, a little less stealthy, sometimes a little more purpose fit, designed to be exported to allies. The packages on these planes are getting more and more power…

Thank you.

Re: Pentagon Puts F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision on Hold

#262
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No where in my comment did I say it was not capable of combat at all, but it certainly has not lived up to the billed goal of the program nor will be be effective in its billed role of "Fighter jet to replace all Fighter Jets" It is mediocre in all roles for which was designed to replace. It is not as good at dog-fighting as its counter parts, it is not as good at close air support as its counter parts, it does not h…

Not sure who bills it as "fighter jet to replace all fighter jets" but that's certainly not what the Operational Requirements Document for F-35 says.

Not in those words no, but yes the operational requirement of the F-35 was soo vast is was to be the Joint Strike Fighter to fill all the roles for all the branches of military

It was to replace almost all of the jetfighter platforms from the A-10 to the F15 and to replace some of the bomber platforms

Re: Pentagon Puts F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision on Hold

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t a Global Hawk, Triton, or similar with high altitude loiter capabilities and StarLink support not a more pragmatic option for such a role? They’re also unmanned. If carrier support is required, there’s the X-47B/X-47C vehicle. Platforms should go high and slow (but faster when necessary, when in range of bad times). Ordinance should go fast, very fast, with no people onboard.

UAVs like the Global Hawk or Triton aren't large enough to be fast enough to be useful against enemy fighters. As for StarLink, all relevant LEO satellites are coming down in the early stages of any open combat between the US and a near-peer adversary. To contest air superiority requires a platform that goes very fast and can see very far. To fight enemy fighters or to strike ground targets in places without air supe…

My point is that fighters are obsolete. Sensor platforms get you the target, long range ordinance kills the target. Dog fights are dead like the SR71, which was obsoleted by orbital surveillance. See from afar, kill from afar, and stop trying to put a human onboard.

Re: Pentagon Puts F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision on Hold

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hijackings were extremely common prior to flight security. TSA was another level, that was extremely frustrating throughout the 2000s, but at a minimum it prevents wildly unstable people from boarding with weapons Check out this list https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings

> at a minimum it prevents wildly unstable people from boarding with weapons The TSA reliably fails penetration tests; they miss between 70% and 95% of them. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelgoldstein/2017/11/09/tsa... What's likely caused hijackings to fall off a cliff is a) reinforced cockpit doors and b) the knowledge of crew and passengers that the hijackers might be homicidal. Pre-9/11, advice was to cooperat…

Reinforced cockpit doors were not implemented on planes until around 2002. Meanwhile, hijackings fell dramatically after only basic fight security that was implemented nearly 20 years before that.

Re: Pentagon Puts F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision on Hold

#265
post #166
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they didn't quite trust their missiles not to launch straight up and come back down on the ship. This sounds like some ridiculous cold war propaganda, source?

I think there is a few factors at play here. Firstly its a misconception that that VLS has anything to do with this. VLS has only really been mounted on ships from the 80s onwards. The first US ship with VLS was the Ticonderoga class cruiser launched first in 1980, however the VLS was only used for anti aircraft missiles and the Harpoon anti ship missiles were positioned in quad launchers at the rear of the ship. The…

Very interesting, thank you!

Re: Pentagon Puts F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision on Hold

#266
post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure who bills it as "fighter jet to replace all fighter jets" but that's certainly not what the Operational Requirements Document for F-35 says.

Not in those words no, but yes the operational requirement of the F-35 was soo vast is was to be the Joint Strike Fighter to fill all the roles for all the branches of military It was to replace almost all of the jetfighter platforms from the A-10 to the F15 and to replace some of the bomber platforms

The F-35 is to replace some F-15Cs, the legacy Hornet (F-18 A/B/C/D) and the A-10.

The F-15Cs are all pushing 40, Hornets are 30+ and because they're used by the Navy they're used hard, the A-10 is totally obsolete, and no bomber is being replaced by the F-35.

Re: Pentagon Puts F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision on Hold

#267
post #178

Reading through the Wikipedia article detailing serious issues with the avionics software's development[0], I can't help but think of the choice to use C++ as the standard language for development on most of the JSF's systems. I recall reading a document written by the (then-current) lead dev on the project outlining the criteria used to assess C++'s suitability for the project. He conceded that Ada was the superior…

Here is the document I was referring to: https://web.archive.org/web/20111219004314/http://journal.th...
Post reply on HN