Pentagon to Kill Air Force F-35 Version

[Jezza]

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nN18155456

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is seeking to cancel the Air Force version of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) F-35, the world's biggest fighter program, a leading defense consultant said Friday.

Gordon England, acting deputy secretary of defense, "is pushing to eliminate one of the three aircraft versions, and the Air Force version is his preferred kill" as a short-term economy measure, said Loren Thompson, citing discussions with senior Pentagon and industry officials.

Thompson is chief operating officer of the Arlington, Virginia-based Lexington Institute, a research group with close ties to the defense establishment.

Loss of the Air Force variant would be a blow to Lockheed which expects to export that version, in particular, for decades to come.

What about the F-35 JSF program partners??????
F-22 anyone?????

 

[aaaditya]

why do they want to cancel the air force variant ? does it have any drawbacks and how does it differ from the other variants?
i think the f22 deserves to be cancelled considering that it is much more expensive.

 

[Wild Weasel]

It's much more expensive, yes. It's also the most capable air superiority aircraft in the history of flight. Once a number of them are in service, the Pentagon will realize that the Raptor is the way forward.
I seriously doubt that the USAF JSF is in real danger of cancellation right now.

But then again, stupid decisions have happened before.

 

[turin]

Dont think, these considerations are representative of things to come. I mean, for the european defense industry this would be like a win of the lottery. I'm sure the US are aware of the blowbacks of such a decision concerning their own air force and its need for fighter replacement as well as the international market.

Granted, stupid decisions in fact have been made before, but this would certainly be a whole new level of such wackiness.

 

[bd popeye]

I was reading about this move eariler today. Mr. England must have had some drugs placed in his coffee. Very poor move. Of course it's not final yet.

This can all be blamed on the tremendous US government budget deficet brought on by the present administration. ..I don't want to get into politics.

I think it's important for the USAF to continually upgrade it's tactical strike aircraft. Thos Eagles and Falcons can't last forever. Perhaps Mr. England should push for fewer F-35's instead of cancelling the whole USAF order.

 

[seantheaussie]

How can cancelling the cheapest version be a good move? Surely any extra R&D costs for F-35a would be far less than procuring the more expensive b OR c. Unless this just means the AF will use the Cs wing instead but not other carrier components

 

[turin]

Apart from the price, would there be any significant compromise for the USAF, should they decide to buy the C-version as well? I'm thinking about the general performance. The C-version has greater range and payload. Are there serious drawbacks concerning agility because of greater weight and general layout?

 

[aaaditya]

i think usa should maintain a 2 combat aircraft force structure comprising of f22 (upper end) and f35(middle end),that should be able to take care of most of their enemies(these aircrafts are superior to anything that any country has as of now) and a mixture of t-50(trainer attack) and predator(ucav) for (lower end) missions.
this t50-predator mix would be more than enough to take care of most small airforces.
the adavntage of this would be billions of dollars of savings in terms of maintainence costs .

 

[SABRE]

One of the F-35 version was speculated to be canceled & many experts, non-experts, potential coustomers & coustomers, specialy UK, believed that it was going to be the F-35B (STOVL) marine version since it was having weight troubles & Vertical take-off wosent coming easy. UK is to buy F-35B (STOVL) version & they have always worried about its cancelation. But canceling Airforce version is a bit shocking.

I think, since airforce already has F-22 Raptor they just need a bomb machine & that can be performed by F-35B & C aswell. So Pentagon plans to cancel 'A' version, give airforce 'B' or 'C' version & divert resources to 'B' & solve its VTOL problems. Since 'B' is getting most of the coustomer & potential coustomer's attention pentagon plans to keep it.

Anyways still a foolish move. Cancelling 'B' version would be more proper not 'A'

 

[Crusader2000]

Sorry, but I think you guys are missing the point? The Naval F-35C offers everything the landbased F-35A does plus some! As a matter of fact the F-35C will have Longer Range, Carry Heavier Loads, and have better Low Speed Handling. Further, by cutting one of the three models it will save hundreds perhaps billions of dollars. Really, there is no reason why the USAF or any Air Forces can't operate F-35C's from landbases. Its no uncommon at all........many countries currently operate "NAVAL" F/A-18 Hornets from landbases all over the world. Many other famous Naval Aircraft have operated from landbases. (i.e. F-4 Phantom, A-7 Corsair, etc. etc.)

 

[knightrider4]

I think the naval version has a larger wing area for carrier approaches and strengthened landing gear and a strengthened airframe to take the punishment of carrier landings. Apart from that they are pretty similiar.

 

[KGB]

The STOVL version will be the last to go, despite the technical difficulties. The reasons I see are:

1. The RN uses STOVLs, and it seems they plan to use STOVL for their new carriers (this is in a post somewhere in this forum)

2. The USMC uses STOVL carriers

3. The Harrier was found highly useful the last Iraq war due to it's STOVL features. Since the US had limited basing facilities near iraq, the harrier was able to maintain a high sortie rate. I infer that they were able to base very close to the site of action, using roads or short strips for runways.

Despite the difficulties with STOVL, they make great logistics and therefore very high utility.

 

[Crusader2000]

Anyway you look at it the JSF Program will not be cancelled. Really, the Air Force Version will go ahead. Just that it will have more in common with the Naval F-35C.