The F-35 is doing that right now and it's not even in service yet. Look at the MiG-25, even if it's wasn't the fighter we thought it was it scared the snot out of our air force guys.
A weapon not used is not a waste. Look at our nuclear weapons, never used and yet it provided an efficient deterrent against Soviet attack and vice versa (MAD).
A wide varity of sources. some of them reliable others maybe not so. As with everything on the net.
And perhaps you're not aware, but we have or had a USAF guy here on the bbs that works on F-35's...
Here is what I see, from a Maintainer point of view (Crew Chief of AF-03)Alot of what I read on here is crazy. Some of the things people come up with. The F-35 is following along with every other plane that has been developed. They all have been over priced and over budget. Its going to happen. Deal with it. We are constantly working to make these planes better and better. Right now we are down for a 3rd stage cracked blade out of AF-02. Who knows how it happened. Could be a bad blade or could be just one of those freak things that happen. Cracked blades in jet engines occur a little more than what people think (talking about all jet powered aircraft in general). Its a safty precaution to ground the fleet till this gets sorted out and the problem fixed. Better to get it taken care of then to possibly lose a jet and/or a life of a pilot. So just because you hear that the fleet is grounded, dont take it as a bad thing. Most people tend to hate on things they dont really understand cause they read a few negative things online or in a paper or magazine. Dont believe everything you read. Our program is making great strides, and out of the 50,000 or so test points we have over 20,000 accomplished. We still have a long way to go, but we are making it happen. I cant really go into much detail, but have the things in here are not true that people say. Just call it a little insider info........
It will be very hard and expensive to sort out all the problems and getting the F-35 combat ready and combat efficient. It is of course hard for any of us to know exatly what it is capable of but from what is heard the overall performance is so far a disapointment and it is a little worrying that it seems to have problems even on a basic level with aerodynamic and maneuverability. If so it will be almost impossible to fix it without a complete redesign if the plane. Software issues etc can be sorted out along the way but the basic airframe design must work.
