Im very circumspect about anything I read about the F35. You had the two largest defense conglomerates going head to head to win the JSF contract, the biggest in History, with the X35 winning over Boeing's X32. I imagine that upset Boeing cause the contract would have put them on top military aircraft-wise. So who knows how many paid off Senators, Congressman, spoke person's, Generals, media outlets, and assorted goons they have mobilized to bad mouth the F35 and their competitor. Especially since so much is riding on the F/18 Growlers Boeing is trying to talk the Govt. into buying at 90 m a pop to make up for the F35's supposed short comings.
This from a company who whole heartedly endorsed the concept of the JSF up until the time their flawed X32 rightfully lost the fly off. Their design and plan was deeply flawed and so we have these two Industrial Giants purse fighting over what it can and can not do even tho the supposed "test" was made with a F35 stripped of its stealth and avionics, "I guess that F16 pilot speaking out will land a sweet gig with Boeing soon".
Its just hard to be anything but a cynic when reading claims anymore. There is so much big money at stake and so much soft money being tossed around...Opinions are so easily bought today.
Secondly where exactly is the threat that should force us to spend even more money to get a system up and running that is already way over budget? The airplane is one big flying computer with 5 times the software code of the F22 and while there have been a few glitches the software development has probably gone better then expected. These so called "failures of the code that result in certain systems being delayed" are often just development blocs that are being achieved according to schedule.
The USMC is choosing to go ahead with declaring "operational" with a current software block. The software needed to operate the gun has always been scheduled for 2017. The USN is requiring block 3F before they declare operational, which will be late '17 or early '18, because they feel they have no definitive need for the system, with an earlier software block, before then.
Why would that be? I guess ISIS is not an air threat and the Russians and Chinese are still stumbling around trying to copy a 1st gen stealth aircraft. So why rush anything when there is very little need to do so?
