The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unreported F-35 problems(defensenews.com)
defensenews.com
The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unreported F-35 problems
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/06/12/the-pentagon-is-battling-the-clock-to-fix-serious-unreported-f-35-problems/
385 comments
Isn't this sort of thing expected through the process of developing cutting edge hardware and software?
I can't imagine there are many airframes that are pushing the technological boundaries as the F-35, aren't bleeding edge products prone to difficult development?
I don't see how this wont be worth it in the long run in terms of getting ahead in an arms race as a superpower.
It seems as though this is probably the hardest thing to get industry insight into given the secret nature of it all.
I can't imagine there are many airframes that are pushing the technological boundaries as the F-35, aren't bleeding edge products prone to difficult development?
I don't see how this wont be worth it in the long run in terms of getting ahead in an arms race as a superpower.
It seems as though this is probably the hardest thing to get industry insight into given the secret nature of it all.
I worked in defense contracting early in my career. White-collar welfare. Disgusting level of waste.
>a so-called "green-glow" night vision
Go to 28:30 (actual flight helmet recording) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B30EHgj_ikFIOTlEeGh6UHFPOTQ...
”Use the force, Luke.”
Go to 28:30 (actual flight helmet recording) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B30EHgj_ikFIOTlEeGh6UHFPOTQ...
”Use the force, Luke.”
What are the chances all of the negative press the F-35 has gotten is disinformation designed to mislead adversaries?
Has there every been a USA military aircraft built in the last 20 yrs that didn't have damning reports, tons of waste and over budget issues?
Cost+ needs to die. Contractors should be forced to either meet their original bid or go bankrupt trying.
This is a terrible project for many reasons. The insane cost, a plane trying to be everything but master of none, and the whole concept of human piloted planes is so antiquated.
Air craft carriers are obsolete, the same way the carrier made the battleship obsolete in the second World War, but nations were slow to realize it. Missiles make the carrier obsolete today. If you look at China's fast missile boats, they know this already. However it's quite handy still for projecting air power against much weaker foes - which to be fair is what the USA does today.
Human planes are just silly though. Make drones, work on improving the ability to control then accurately remotely. They can out fly and out manoeuvre piloted planes at a fraction of the cost without risking the pilot's lives.
Air craft carriers are obsolete, the same way the carrier made the battleship obsolete in the second World War, but nations were slow to realize it. Missiles make the carrier obsolete today. If you look at China's fast missile boats, they know this already. However it's quite handy still for projecting air power against much weaker foes - which to be fair is what the USA does today.
Human planes are just silly though. Make drones, work on improving the ability to control then accurately remotely. They can out fly and out manoeuvre piloted planes at a fraction of the cost without risking the pilot's lives.
“The F-35’s logistics system currently has no way for foreign F-35 operators to keep their secret data from being sent to the United States.”
Wow.
Wow.
Its funny how I hear that a lot of UFO activity is really just "secret defense projects" that are not available yet, like there is some skunk works out there that is building stuff that is light years ahead of the state of the art. Meanwhile when we look at what the defense department is actually doing, they are building a plane that is trying to be all things to all people that defies the laws of physics with the expected results.
Reminds me of https://youtu.be/4xJBvKJht78 (The F-18: Just how good is it? (1980))
I'm really of the belief, based purely on imagination, that a lot of the spending and research went into being able to make the F-35 autonomous with a switch.
Drone warfare really is the next step and having full jets that appear to be piloted but are actually completely autonomous would put the US ahead by decades.
Drone warfare really is the next step and having full jets that appear to be piloted but are actually completely autonomous would put the US ahead by decades.
F-35 project is infinitely more valuable as its contuined production provides A LOT of employment and contracts. I sincerely don't expect the project ever end or deliver anything worthwhile.
What is the main problem with developing a remotely controlled fighter jet? Is it signal jamming? If so, why not make it autonomous? After all, we are actively developing self driving cars...
It's a counterfactual speculation now, but what would have happened if there were two airplane projects, one designed for vertical takeoff and landing, and another for more general use?
What if airplanes had to be cranked out at a rate like the WWII Merchant Marine Liberty Ships: 2,700 of them from 1941-1945? (There's a restored one, SS Jeremiah O'Brien, at pier 45 in San Francisco.)
Are these machines so complex now that it necessarily must take a generation to develop a new one?
What if airplanes had to be cranked out at a rate like the WWII Merchant Marine Liberty Ships: 2,700 of them from 1941-1945? (There's a restored one, SS Jeremiah O'Brien, at pier 45 in San Francisco.)
Are these machines so complex now that it necessarily must take a generation to develop a new one?
If there was ever a contender for the most complex _thing_ humanity has ever made, I think DoD bureaucracy is a strong favorite.
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Could this be related to the fatal crash of the F-35 in Japan?
Japan recently lost one of their first F35s and the pilot. One wonders whether one of these problems was the cause of the loss of the airplane and the pilot, not pilot error.
Brewster Buffalo II.
Sounds good on paper, disaster in practice.
Sounds good on paper, disaster in practice.
Why do so many people on hackernews appear to really know their stuff when it comes to aeronautics?
Between the F-35, the ethiopian crash, and plenty other related topics, I’m amazed at the quantity and quality of the comments.
I would expect this topic to be kind of niche, and not attract >100 comments everytime!
Between the F-35, the ethiopian crash, and plenty other related topics, I’m amazed at the quantity and quality of the comments.
I would expect this topic to be kind of niche, and not attract >100 comments everytime!
Timing is impeccable: Trump is about to sell a bunch of F-35's to Poland, so let's hit them with a "cluster of damning reports" to sour the deal.
If you read the actual article, you'll see that most problems are either fixed already or aren't as severe the headline would make you believe. But nobody really reads the articles.
If you read the actual article, you'll see that most problems are either fixed already or aren't as severe the headline would make you believe. But nobody really reads the articles.
One point five trillion dollars.
War, war never changes ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBDrv1PY-uU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBDrv1PY-uU
>controlled flight into terrain
Uhm what? Presumably no pilot will fly into terrain if in control.
That whole thing just reads like a nightmare project
Uhm what? Presumably no pilot will fly into terrain if in control.
That whole thing just reads like a nightmare project
For the trillion(s) that have gone into this fighter, one could wonder if there were other better uses of that money.
Even if defense is a necessary evil, it should be obvious by now that electronic (cyber - forgive me) warfare is the future of military.
Why attack with physical weapons when you can literally shut down the power to an entire country? Or jam its communications en masse. Or cripple its transportation infrastructure.
Even if defense is a necessary evil, it should be obvious by now that electronic (cyber - forgive me) warfare is the future of military.
Why attack with physical weapons when you can literally shut down the power to an entire country? Or jam its communications en masse. Or cripple its transportation infrastructure.
I marvel at how foreign buyers of something as complex as stealth aircraft can have any confidence that the system is not riddled with back doors, remote control capability, "phoning home", surveillance, and kill switches. How would you prove to a foreign buyer that your F-35 would not:
- upload all your secret flight data to a tire pressure monitor every time a maintenance worker checks the tires with the special gauge he has to use, which then retransmits the data when the gauge is put back in the hanger, without needing any cooperation from the maintenance worker
- cause all your F-35s to fall out of sky everywhere in the world when the GPS satellites transmit an extra 64-bit coded message that cause fuel actuators to shut off
- put your F-35 under remote control when a coded microwave message is transmitted directly to the plane during combat or a close encounter
Even children's toys and home appliances are routinely discovered to be phoning home and doing sneaky unexpected things. I'm going to hazard a guess that all large weapons systems are compromised —— perhaps by more than one nation simultaneously since parts and expertise come from hundreds of contractors and many different countries. I'm not aware of any revelations of weapon-system backdoors yet, but we might hear about some of them in the aftermath of the next major war.