The F-35 Can’t Use Its Bombs, Either
16th March 2015
The news about the F-35’s inadequacies keeps rolling in. A month ago, we learned that software problems meant that the F-35 wouldn’t be able to fire its gun for the first few years it is in service. Now, it turns out it won’t be able to use a bomb critically useful for close air support (CAS) missions until 2022.
March 17th, 2015 at 12:46
Has Microsoft gone into the aircraft business? (“Don’t worry; we’ll fix the machine guns in Version 3.31.”)
It’s not like they don’t already have aircraft with proven technology that could form the basis of design.
I read an article somewhere (here?) about how a billionaire could not spend his fortune without having so many assets that he would essentially remain a billionaire. Yet the DOD is able to spend billion$ on an aircraft that can’t fly, shoot, or bomb the enemy. Amazing! It would be cheaper to re-fly the Spruce Goose. After all, wood doesn’t show up well on radar. (The Israelis have some drones constructed with wood for that reason.)
March 17th, 2015 at 16:18
Pierre Sprey, the guy who did the F-16 and A-10, dishes the dirt at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQB4W8C0rZI et seq.