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Air Force Grounds $400 Billion F-35s Because of 'Peeling and Crumbling' Insulation (washingtonpost.com)
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes the Washington Post:
Less than two months after declaring the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter ready for combat, the Air Force on Friday announced that it was temporarily grounding 15 of the jets after it discovered that insulation was "peeling and crumbling" inside the fuel tanks. The setback is the latest for the $400 billion system, the most expensive in the history of the Pentagon. The problem comes as the program, which for years faced billions of dollars in cost overruns and significant schedule delays, had begun to make strides.
The insulation problem affects a total of 57 aircraft, the Air Force said, 42 of which are still in production... In a statement, Lockheed Martin said that "the issue is confined to one supplier source and one batch of parts." It emphasized that "this is not a technical or design issue; it is a supply chain manufacturing quality issue..." It is unclear how long the aircraft would be grounded, how long the problem would take to fix or what the larger affect on the program would be.
âoeWhile nearing completion, the F-35 is still in development, and challenges are to be expected," said an Air Force spokeswoman, adding "The F-35 program has a proven track record of solving issues as they arise, and we're confident we'll continue to do so."
The insulation problem affects a total of 57 aircraft, the Air Force said, 42 of which are still in production... In a statement, Lockheed Martin said that "the issue is confined to one supplier source and one batch of parts." It emphasized that "this is not a technical or design issue; it is a supply chain manufacturing quality issue..." It is unclear how long the aircraft would be grounded, how long the problem would take to fix or what the larger affect on the program would be.
âoeWhile nearing completion, the F-35 is still in development, and challenges are to be expected," said an Air Force spokeswoman, adding "The F-35 program has a proven track record of solving issues as they arise, and we're confident we'll continue to do so."
We are getting close to having a one plane military.
Law Number XVI: In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy 3-1/2 days each per week except for leap year, when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Stop wasting money!
Agreed.
The A-10 and the F-15 are arguably the two greatest airborne weapons platforms ever built. They have long, well-proven track records showing that pound-for-pound no other pair of aircraft can match, period. They worked so well that we had to dream up some ridiculous bullshit reasons to replace them.
Time and time again the A-10 has shown that it is the single most effective ground support plane ever built, and the F-15 is still patrolling the skies shooting down everything that's dumb enough to fly up to challenge it. The Israeli version of the F-15 rivals both the F-22 and the F-35, and in a protracted fight would probably wipe them from the skies while the F-35 pilot was busy rebooting his flight computer.
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Thank you for calling ITI Advanced Combat Systems
Please press 1 if you are in a combat situation other wise please hold for the next technician...
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Please in put your mission number...
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Mission verification complete we will now transfer you to a support technician... (...hold music...)
Thank you for calling ITI my name is nahmeed how may I be helping you?
Look buddy my radar is froze up and I'm dodging a couple of MIGs at the moment how about you fix this thing so I can take these suckers out.
I'm sorry to hear about that sir what ITI system are you calling about? ... its the radar in the f-35.
The radar!!
I understand sir but we have a lot of radar systems do you know the model number?
No!
Ok very good sir I can look that up. please hold ... (...more hold music...)
Sir you still there ??
Yes I am I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to shake these MIGs.
Thats fine sir, can you tell me what firmware revision of the radar you are using?
What?? I don't know all I know is that its stuck with the same blips thats been on the screen for the last 15 minutes and nothing has changed. Look just log in and fix it.
I would be happy to be helping you sir. Let me know when you have landed the plane and come to a full stop and all weapon systems are in their safe position.
Are you kidding me?? I can't land this plane right now this MIG will make mince meat of me once I stop evasive maneuvers!
Ah I see sir unfortunately I can not help you until the planes is at a full stop and all weapons are safe.
Is there any thing else I can be doing for you?
Yeah how about you.... BOOM*&@*shzzzzttzzzzzzztzzzztzssssssstssssss
Sir hello are you there?
Hello sir??
Thank you for calling ITI I hope you found this session helpful please reply to the survey at the end of this call. have a good day
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
10 years ago, i'd have burst your bubble with facts and combat stats. these days, i'm just gonna check if kids are asleep yet and eat a sandwich.
Technology will only get more expensive; has to be somebodies law. And why hasn't an VTOL SR-71 with a gatling laser been certified? Dam, I'm starting to fidget again.