F35

[Guest DWB]

Not sure if this has ever been linked here. It is impressive

 

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Not sure if this has ever been linked here. It is impressive

Awesome plane, looks lots of fun.

 

I'm glad I don't have the responsibility of choosing which warplane to spend all our money on. A decade's investment and no guarantee that some other design is not going to make it obsolete before we even take delivery! The technology is changing so fast, and the types of wars we get mixed up in are so different to what was anticipated. Will we need pilots? Will avionics be reliable?

 

Add to that the news that Chinese-made chips are the heart of many weapons systems and many are fakes- which means the damned thing won't work when you need it to. Is there a way to test all weapons without destroying them?

 

All arguments for a home-grown industry that we can trust.

 

Lyle

 

 

[willedoo]

Awesome plane, looks lots of fun.I'm glad I don't have the responsibility of choosing which warplane to spend all our money on. A decade's investment and no guarantee that some other design is not going to make it obsolete before we even take delivery! The technology is changing so fast, and the types of wars we get mixed up in are so different to what was anticipated. Will we need pilots? Will avionics be reliable?

Add to that the news that Chinese-made chips are the heart of many weapons systems and many are fakes- which means the damned thing won't work when you need it to. Is there a way to test all weapons without destroying them?

 

All arguments for a home-grown industry that we can trust.

 

Lyle

Yes, you're right there, Lyle. Just a shame we're not a rich enough nation to have done something of our own years ago. The problem with the JSF is that we don't have too many other choices & seeing how they've put all their eggs in one basket, it's sink or swim for us and the U.S. with the F-35. Historically, they've always had a selection of designs in the pipeline, this is the only time they've got just one in this role. Apart from drones & UAV's, there's not much happening & it will probably be decades before unmanned flight can fill the present role. The F22 is a great fighter just in the wrong place at the wrong time & was in danger of being obsolete before it reached it's potential. There was talk of retro-fitting some F-35 avionics into them to extend their capability. Their problem is that they're too expensive to buy & maintain, which is one of the many reasons they were canned. It will be interesting to see when our F35's reach IOC here, I'd guess 2018 at the earliest. The Defence Minister recently left open the option of getting another block of Super Hornet's & cutting back the F35 to 50 purchases if the delay is going to cause a capability gap. The talk was of buying & not leasing the Rhinos. It will certainly be interesting seeing how it all pans out.

 

Cheers, Willie.