The Pentagon’s Frankensteins

[unhappycamper]

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/338032/pentagon-s-frankensteins-michael-auslin



The F-35 and the Littoral Combat Ship are increasingly troubled, according to a new report.

The Pentagon’s Frankensteins
By Michael Auslin
January 18, 2013 4:00 A.M.

Despite a two-month reprieve from sequestration, the Pentagon is still bracing for severe budget cuts of up to half a trillion dollars, which will come on top of $487 billion already cut from its planned spending over the next ten years.

But money woes are not the only challenges facing the Department of Defense. A recent report from the military’s chief evaluation officer should set off alarms about how America buys complex weapons systems. In fact, the Pentagon is gambling a large chunk of the military’s future on weapons programs that are struggling.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was designed to replace the current fighters used by the Air Force, Navy, and Marines. For the first time, all three major air arms of the U.S. military would share a common platform, each using its own variant. Once the Obama administration had killed the stealthy F-22, the Joint Strike Fighter went from being its complement to being its replacement. The large number of F-35s expected to be built — approximately 2,400 across all three services — is meant to make up in quantity what the fighter lacked in quality compared with the F-22. Development of the F-35 has become the costliest procurement program in the Pentagon’s history, at $400 billion and growing.

The program has been hobbled by numerous delays. Last week, the Pentagon’s chief test and evaluation officer, David Gilmore, sent his annual report to Congress. In it, he underscored the program’s “lack of maturity” and noted numerous problems with the plane’s development. Among them were failures of its stealthy coating (which peels off during high-speed, high-altitude flights), problems with the weapons-bay doors, continuing difficulties with the lift fan on the Marines’ version, cracks in the Marines’ version, problems with radar-tracking for weapons use, issues with the refueling system, and ongoing delays in development of the flight helmet (which is supposed to integrate much of the data and avionics in a revolutionary manner). In addition, software development and testing is running behind schedule — for a plane that will have over 8 million lines of computer code.

[Scuba]

1. The US Military Industrial Complex - Making Americans Less Safe Every Day !!

[ROBROX]

2. AS A VETERAN WHO WORKED ON AVIONICS WITH THE A-3, A-6,A-7

These jets flew and WORKED. The A-6 & A-7 were state of the art jets. Before the government purchased a jet it WORKED.

Why is this government BUYING crap?

If it doesn't work then we just don't buy it.

There is something WRONG with the people who just want to buy the newest jet versus the BEST.

At least the A-18 HORNET is worth the money spent on this jet which was bypassed by th air force because it WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH......

We have to get the air force out of the buying mode since this agency just spends and we never get our monies worth................

Let the Marines be the buyers and it will WORK or there will be NO BUY........