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F-35 Engines from United Technologies Called Unreliable by GAO

bloomberg.com

1–10 of 77 posts

Re: F-35 Engines from United Technologies Called Unreliable by GAO

#2
UAVs are the future. They are more affordable, they can be stealther, they can be smaller, they can stay flying for longer, and they require less ground support.

I can not believe the F-35 hasn't been completely cancelled yet. Every partner of the US doesn't really want these expensive beasts.

Re: F-35 Engines from United Technologies Called Unreliable by GAO

#3
post #2

UAVs are the future. They are more affordable, they can be stealther, they can be smaller, they can stay flying for longer, and they require less ground support. I can not believe the F-35 hasn't been completely cancelled yet. Every partner of the US doesn't really want these expensive beasts.

Not trying to justify the F-35, it's a cluster fuck, but manned aircraft will be around for a while. Unless the operator is local, the communication latency for UAVs makes them unsuitable for some types of combat missions.

Re: F-35 Engines from United Technologies Called Unreliable by GAO

#4
post #2

UAVs are the future. They are more affordable, they can be stealther, they can be smaller, they can stay flying for longer, and they require less ground support. I can not believe the F-35 hasn't been completely cancelled yet. Every partner of the US doesn't really want these expensive beasts.

Procurement is often not about warfighting but about politics. That's why they split construction up among multiple locations -- that's multiple congressmen who have a vested incentive in seeing that money continue to roll into their district and provide jobs.

Re: F-35 Engines from United Technologies Called Unreliable by GAO

#5
I think the F-35 isn't real, that all the videos of it are CGI, and that all these reports are supposed to convince us that this money has been lost, all while the government is secretly using the entire F-35 budget to build a flock of flying drones, walking and talking robots, and rail guns for the next major war.

I have to believe such contrivances to avoid thinking about how my tax dollars are wasted.

Re: F-35 Engines from United Technologies Called Unreliable by GAO

#8
post #4
post #2

UAVs are the future. They are more affordable, they can be stealther, they can be smaller, they can stay flying for longer, and they require less ground support. I can not believe the F-35 hasn't been completely cancelled yet. Every partner of the US doesn't really want these expensive beasts.

Procurement is often not about warfighting but about politics. That's why they split construction up among multiple locations -- that's multiple congressmen who have a vested incentive in seeing that money continue to roll into their district and provide jobs.

It's basically "New Deal"-type spending that is acceptable to the right wing (which, for the most part these days, includes the Democrats). The economy is in shambles, so you have to do something about it. But fixing the economy would involve breaking from your orthodoxy and upsetting your wealthy sponsors. So what do you do? Pay the unemployed to build killing machines, everyone loves those.

Re: F-35 Engines from United Technologies Called Unreliable by GAO

#9
post #2

UAVs are the future. They are more affordable, they can be stealther, they can be smaller, they can stay flying for longer, and they require less ground support. I can not believe the F-35 hasn't been completely cancelled yet. Every partner of the US doesn't really want these expensive beasts.

Not trying to justify the F-35, it's a cluster fuck, but manned aircraft will be around for a while. Unless the operator is local, the communication latency for UAVs makes them unsuitable for some types of combat missions.

Make them semi-autonomous. For the amount of money spent on the F35, surely we can make the UAV's smarter.

Re: F-35 Engines from United Technologies Called Unreliable by GAO

#10

I think the F-35 isn't real, that all the videos of it are CGI, and that all these reports are supposed to convince us that this money has been lost, all while the government is secretly using the entire F-35 budget to build a flock of flying drones, walking and talking robots, and rail guns for the next major war. I have to believe such contrivances to avoid thinking about how my tax dollars are wasted.

The X-47B is pretty damn cool, makes one wonder with the rate of advancement they had why we would need to develop manned craft much longer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_X-47B

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