MarkW

I couldn't agree more. At least you understand they knew every possible thing there was about building the jets, all the efficiencies they could make, and how the suppliers would pan out in 2002. Obviously, none of that has changed. There is no such thing as a manufacturing learning curve. Science hasn't progressed to introduce new materials or processes in the last 15 years. Nothing at all has been learned from that monumental waste of time and money known as the test program; what could it possibly reveal that wasn't known when the "long term investment" was made? Seriously, why the gov

Ken's tweaked picture works really well from the retro perspective. You could swap his F-35 out for a F-105 picture at Edwards back in the 60s and not bat an eye. I realize what I just did there, BTW. Nomex underwear on...

Can't agree with the above. I spent a bunch of time at Edwards, and it is a big flat bowl. There is no reason for those pictures to be so washed out. There are plenty of pictures that capture the vast wasteland around the airfield. Some of the best captures the bones of wrecked aircraft with the near infinite desert rolling off into blurriness but not into over washed blinding light. The picture you posted of the child makes this point even more so. The child is in near silhouette. The bright window background is washed out. But in the F-35 shots, the lighting on the jet is already washe

I'm just glad someone pointed out it was art. I totally missed that.

The whole canopy/egress design story is pretty interesting. First, the forward hinge was driven by the B model, because the lift fan precluded hardware behind the canopy. So, you have a wind screen/canopy that won't separate because the wind holds it in place. So, they tried a bunch of different set cord layouts, like the Harrier has, to shatter the canopy and eject through. Mostly that would end up decapitating the dummy at certain air speeds that blew the big sheets back onto the pilot. To be clear, I mean dummy in the mannequin sense. The program finally settled on this design which

Det cord.

Waco, rather than argue with you point by point, peace. I keep hitting a nerve with you, apologies. You are 100% correct. The irony of your post is all the 3rd party systems you bring up to give the F-22 a basic A2G capability. Or basic interoperability. I've worked on all three major stealth systems, and while you were flying TDEs I was on Air Staff working with the rest of AQ and later A5 to figure out what the frack had to die on the altar of F-22. To be fair, both F-22 and F-35 were considered radioactive in budget terms, but this was also before the Nunn-McCurdy hits on the JSF pr

And exactly what can a F-22 do against the S-300, which is one of the systems the F-35 is designed to defeat? Fire an AMRAAM at it? Gates was also a business man, and saw the secastrastration cuts coming. the F-22 was simply, and still borders on, unaffordable. It has the older style stealth coatings and seam work, like the B-2, that is hideously expensive and manpower/time intensive to use. They give out Airman of the Year Awards to the guy who can shave cure times down to under a day. You're kind of stringing a bunch of unrelated stuff together here like it somehow proves it was J.Ed

Fact is the F-22 was eating the crap out of the AF budget. Funny how all of a sudden nostalgia kicks in. It was cold, hard, cash that killed the Raptor. Every senior AF official who knew or cared Jack squat about the budget knew it was an unsustainable program once the final cut was made. That CSAF Mosely was too stupid or just had a fighter pilot hard on to see that is a big part of why he got canned.

No. The F-35 EW capability is intended to keep the 4 ship alive so it can drop bombs. To do the sort of reach out and touch you EW the Growler does it would need a lot more pod horsepower, which is coming eventually.

It's primarily an EW exercise. The F-35 radar has been participating for years on a different airframe.

Yeah, walking down the assembly line and asking why the A and C had three red canisters in a certain bay while the B had 4... More news... http://www.dodbuzz.com/2015/05/15/will-the-a-10-dodge-retirement-and-get-new-wings/

I've seen the tape done up well, but not "right" in that the guy stayed on line perfectly, but the peculiar sheen was missing. I sense "Raptor sheen part deux" coming up. I had a chance to talk briefly with the KittyHawk rep at our recent IPMS show. Kind of a total tool. Standing in the middle of the vendor area, loudly and angrily complaining about how modelers want better accuracy, and what do they know. He was clearly not interested in any input or criticisms of any KH kit, to include the F-35. He went on about some armchair jockey who thought he knew more than their on staff pilot.

AWACS/JSTARS/RIVET JOINT will still be needed because the F-35, while it will be in most place at most times when the fleet is fully fleshed out, can't do all spectrum ISR on its own. You'll still need those HDLD assets to do some ISR grunt work. One thing I don't see much discussion about is the EW system, which on this jet was pretty ok and will be upgraded. As for Cuda, it's an LM project they've been pushing for years, no buyers. An extended range AAM is more constrained by length than diameter in both jets; fins on missiles are highly over rated. That of course discount external

Same paint scheme.

Well gosh golly, if only all those inner-city kids got that sort of peptalk everything would be all better. So let's peel back the onion a little bit shall we? Where do you draw the line between "PC" and hold over racism? Or sexism or any other "-ism" as you put it? By the same token, why are there no good racial slurs for white people? Cracker? Seriously? The supposed to hurt anyone's feelings? How's about this simple test: Would you consider the phrase "drunker than 10,000 Indians" offensive? If you're not of Indian descent, or are painfully ignorant of how alcohol has been used in

He probably gets to charge it to the BD account. The parasitic drag that is the F/A-18 will continue on the defense budget. I really was hoping the tea baggers would target crap like this. Why can't ignorant isolationism ever work the way you want it?

I think the real question is what piddle pack would they use?

It appears she refused to let A-10s be retired. http://m.military.com/daily-news/2015/05/13/head-of-davis-monthan-afb-boneyard-relieved-of-command.html?ESRC=airforce-a.nl

Fake. The cement didn't catch on fire.

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week, and be sure to tip your waitress.

First off, the affirmative action program for autistic pilots is called the USAF, and it has been very successful at helping otherwise socially incompatible people advance. ;) Second, white males in the US in general spent enough time saying "we don't think these people are good enough to make it on their own so we have to control them." To deny this, even during most of our lifetimes, would be inexcusable willful ignorance of the facts. We aren't talking about "echoes of the Big Bang", we are seeing the direct results of this nation's past discrimination against basically every non white

Please don't wheel out the PC trope. I know it is the old standby for males, especially white males, but not this time. The first female F-35 pilot is not an achievement, it's an embarrassment. How long has the plane flying? Coming on 8 years? How many tales have been delivered? How many flight hours has the fleet accrued? And now that the boys have finally figured it out, it's safe to put vagina in one? You cannot tell me there are no female test pilots. You cannot tell me there are no female combat pilots. And while the little "all female combat mission" stunt she participated in

McBoeing (and you, sir, are correct about who really took over whom) wants to ride their mistake into the ground. After losing JSF, they basically sunk their TACAIR hopes on the F-15E/K/S/SE/ZZ TOP whatever family and the SH. They made no real investments in TACAIR betyond tweaking, and now that JSF is about to really eat their lunch, they are in desperation mode. UCAV progress is slow, and after losing the uber secret RQ to Iranian hacker clowns, there is NO rush to unman platforms more than we have to. Predators and Reapers over Iraqi and Afghani UNCONTESTED airspace is one thing...

That's what the Corp is for! Dirty little secret, the navy has been swiping out C's for USMC A's that haven't hit their limit. And why do you think they need to keep the Growler line open?