Post by graybeard on May 15, 2011 11:21:49 GMT -6
Heard the price of the F-35 manned fighter program this morning is $1 Trillion! CONgress just reinstated the second source engine the USAF doesn't want, for a cool $35 Billion.
Not only are this and the F-22 too expensive to risk in battle, they're full of problems. The F-35 is supposed to be a lower cost replacement for the $350 Million each F-22, but #6 F-35 (flight test?) that CONgress is pushing on the AF will cost $380 Million.
A $1.4 Billion B-2 was destroyed on takeoff from Guam in 2008, because, "the B-2 crashed after "heavy, lashing rains" caused water to enter skin-flush air-data sensors, which feed angle of attack and yaw data to the computerized flight-control system. The water distorted preflight readings in three of the plane's 24 sensors, causing the flight-control system to send an erroneous correction to the B-2 on takeoff. The B-2 quickly stalled, became unrecoverable, and crashed."
At least the B-2 was used over Libya. It was well protected from enemy fire, of course.
As I've reported here before, a pilot was locked inside an F-22 for seven hours until they took a chainsaw to the $270K canopy, thanks to a software glitch. The first pair to deploy to Guam reversed course when they got to the International dateline. They're grounded now for risk of oxygen generator failure that can leave the pilot incapacitated.
NPR mentioned the F-35 is also plagued with problems.
We taxpayers should demand that all these things be disassembled and the parts sent back for 100% refunds. A few could be donated to museums of shame at Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, et al.
The two alternatives offered to Obama for zapping bin Laden were:
Smart bomb dropped from B-2.
Missile from an unmanned drone like a Predator.
Any guess at the difference in cost between those two missions?
Manned fighters in the USAF are just a taxpayer funded flying club. The RepubliCONs are cutting support for the Middle and struggling classes while increasing the US Mil budget by $14 Billion.
GB
Not only are this and the F-22 too expensive to risk in battle, they're full of problems. The F-35 is supposed to be a lower cost replacement for the $350 Million each F-22, but #6 F-35 (flight test?) that CONgress is pushing on the AF will cost $380 Million.
A $1.4 Billion B-2 was destroyed on takeoff from Guam in 2008, because, "the B-2 crashed after "heavy, lashing rains" caused water to enter skin-flush air-data sensors, which feed angle of attack and yaw data to the computerized flight-control system. The water distorted preflight readings in three of the plane's 24 sensors, causing the flight-control system to send an erroneous correction to the B-2 on takeoff. The B-2 quickly stalled, became unrecoverable, and crashed."
At least the B-2 was used over Libya. It was well protected from enemy fire, of course.
As I've reported here before, a pilot was locked inside an F-22 for seven hours until they took a chainsaw to the $270K canopy, thanks to a software glitch. The first pair to deploy to Guam reversed course when they got to the International dateline. They're grounded now for risk of oxygen generator failure that can leave the pilot incapacitated.
NPR mentioned the F-35 is also plagued with problems.
We taxpayers should demand that all these things be disassembled and the parts sent back for 100% refunds. A few could be donated to museums of shame at Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, et al.
The two alternatives offered to Obama for zapping bin Laden were:
Smart bomb dropped from B-2.
Missile from an unmanned drone like a Predator.
Any guess at the difference in cost between those two missions?
Manned fighters in the USAF are just a taxpayer funded flying club. The RepubliCONs are cutting support for the Middle and struggling classes while increasing the US Mil budget by $14 Billion.
GB