F-35 to cost $1.45 trillion over next 50 years!

[guncrasher]

1.45 trillion is not too much to pay for the world's greatest fighter aircraft, bar none. The F-35 will remain unchallenged in the sir for at least the next 40 years.

who and what exactly is challenging our current aircraft?  it's all about spending money, not about being challenged.



semp

[PR3D4TOR]

who and what exactly is challenging our current aircraft?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM7Tka5ir70

[mthrockmor]

War opens with China. B-2 bombers, stealth cruise missiles, EA-18G Growlers and hundreds of F-15Es, F-16s and F/A-18C/D/E/F's pour through gaps created in Chinese defensive systems to completely overwhelm in destroy airfield after airfiedl. By 8 AM 60-80% of the Chinese airforce lays in smolder piles. China attempts a response with a barrage of SSMs, with little response as most have also been destroyed. Those that do launch are intercepted with Aegis cruisers/destroyers using RIM161/ SM-3 missiles.

By noon day 1 the balance of power has completly shifted in the Pacific Rim and on the world stage. American forces spend the next week on search and destroy missions for the remnants of the Chinese military, dozens of ships and submarines have been sunk. Peace treaty is brokered.

This has not happened because the Chinese know it is true, among many other reasons. If you read Sun Tzu's The Art of War the fancy Chinese 5th Generation stealth plane is briliant. They spend a couple billion on a test bed, America turns around and borrows $1.5 trillion from China in launching the response with the F-35. For a couple billion China helps bankrupt their enemy. I highly doubt China and America will ever shoot at each. The Chinese won't need to.

Boo

[mensa180]

25 billion a year, nearly 10 times what we're spending on the F18 this year, more data: http://comptroller.defense.gov/defbudget/fy2012/FY2012_Weapons.pdf

[33Vortex]

http://www.usdebtclock.org/








Add the patriot act I & II, the NDAA etc etc... the USA as it was once known, is gone. And by the way the federal govt will stop at nothing to be the best military force on the planet, not even running the country bankrupt wills stop them. They will bury the country before giving up the global military dominance.

[mthrockmor]

33Vortex...

Boo

[guncrasher]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM7Tka5ir70

how many of those do they have?  and can they be flown to the us? and even if they sell them to some other countries are those countries going to have decent pilots to fly them?

it's not about those airplanes it's about money being spent.  no plane should cost billions of dollars to produce each.  i still remember back in the 80's how secretaries were being paid 60 to 70k a year in the aerospace industry.  that's where most of the money is being spent to pay salaries of people that have basically nothing to do but it inflates the sale price of airplanes. and it makes the company that produces those airplanes look good to wall street.  we have wasted trillions of dollars on other airplanes that got nowhere.  on ships that the navy didnt want. 

it isnt about making america safer, it's about making american companies a lot of money.

semp

[LCADolby]

The price you pay to be the world police.



'Merica F--- Yeah!

[mthrockmor]

All roads lead to Rome....I mean DC. What if we simply wanted to be free again?

Boo

[PR3D4TOR]

no plane should cost billions of dollars to produce each. 

No plane does. The most expensive plane today is the B-2 bomber at about $1 billion flyaway cost.

[guncrasher]

No plane does. The most expensive plane today is the B-2 bomber at about $1 billion flyaway cost.

it cost way more than that.  a lot of r&d is paid for in advance and not included as part of the price of the airplane.  but seriously instead of improving old technology it's better for a company to start a plane "from the ground up" as they make more money that way.  remember the "cost plus" contracts in the iraq/afganistan?  it's the same thing.



semp

[33Vortex]

All roads lead to Rome....I mean DC. What if we simply wanted to be free again?

Boo

All roads still lead to Rome, the fact that they go through other places before getting to Rome does not change that fact. The US is not the world police, it is the world bully.

[Shifty]

A complete waste of money - we should've kept our F-111's and bought the latest version of the F-15E with the money we're wasting on interim F-18F's and the cash we've sunk into the F-35

 Tronsky

Dunno Tronski. The F-111 was a great bird, but they required way too much maintenance per flight hour. I was an F-111 maintainer way back in the early 80s and the cost effectiveness of flight hours vs maintenance requirement was pretty dire way back then.. If you mean replacing the Aussie F-111s with the F-15E yeah I'm all with you. Actually operating them right now would be a burden on any Air Force's budget.

[curry1]

Dunno Tronski. The F-111 was a great bird, but they required way too much maintenance per flight hour. I was an F-111 maintainer way back in the early 80s and the cost effectiveness of flight hours vs maintenance requirement was pretty dire way back then.. If you mean replacing the Aussie F-111s with the F-15E yeah I'm all with you. Actually operating them right now would be a burden on any Air Force's budget.

My Uncle says the same thing he was a crew chief on the F-111s during the same time period.  In fact he told me a story about designating a certain plane to basically be a bird to pull pieces off of to fix other planes.

[Shifty]

In fact he told me a story about designating a certain plane to basically be a bird to pull pieces off of to fix other planes.

That's not an unusual practice or at least it wasn't while I was in. We even did it on A-10s if there was a bird with major problems that was going to be down for maintenance for a long length of time. It could be designated a the "Can Bird" for cannibalization bird. If another plane needed a part which wasn't in stock you'd order the part for the can bird then remove it and use it on your aircraft. Where was your uncle stationed when he worked on F-111s? I did my F-111 time at RAF Upper Heyford in the UK from 1980-1983.