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The US military's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft is proving to be a pain in the neck in more ways than one. Not only did the Pentagon spend almost $400 billion to buy 2,400 aircraft - about twice as much as it cost to put a man on the moon - the F-35 program is 7 years behind schedule and $163 billion over budget. This at a time when cuts in the defense budget are forcing the Pentagon to shrink the size of the military. CBS 60 Minutes took a closer look at the troubled fighter plane a few months back, but their rebroadcast on Sunday evening seems like as good a reason as any to revisit one of the biggest ongoing budget debacles in U.S. military memory. David Martin gets an inside look at what makes the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter the most expensive weapons system in history.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday June 02 2014, @07:14PM
How did that idiotic comment get modded up? As if F-150s will take the place of airplanes?
New military aircraft are always like that. When I was in the USAF the C5-As were stationed where I was, and they were brand new and suffered from all sorts of problems; landing gear not going down, engines falling off, system failures. They eventually got the bugs worked out and afaik those aircraft are still in service 40 years later.
And "no enemies?" Take off those rose-colored glasses, kid. And don't forget, "speak softly and carry a big stick."
"Nobody knows everything about anything." — Dr Jerry Morton, Journey to Madness
(Score: 3, Insightful) by nitehawk214 on Monday June 02 2014, @09:14PM
Since the F-22 and F-35 will likely never be used in combat since they are too valuable to risk; an F-150 will be just as effective for a faction of the cost.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday June 03 2014, @03:36PM
You're talking about the US military, with bombs that cost millions apiece. A million bucks for one bomb! No equipment is too valuable for the US military to risk.
"Nobody knows everything about anything." — Dr Jerry Morton, Journey to Madness
(Score: 2) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday June 04 2014, @03:10PM
The problem is the newer, expensive, high tech equipment actually performs worse in situations where you are going to get hit occasionally. Close air support with random AA guns firing up at you. The guns are already firing blind most of the time, so stealth doesn't help as much. Better to send an big ugly flying tank like the A-10. They keep flying when the do get hit because there is no sensitive electronics to harm.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh