{"id":186748,"date":"2021-03-02T12:29:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T17:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=186748"},"modified":"2021-03-02T12:29:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T17:29:41","slug":"stealth-fighters-performance-not-living-up-to-the-price-tag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stealth-fighters-performance-not-living-up-to-the-price-tag\/","title":{"rendered":"Stealth Fighter\u2019s Performance Not Living Up to the Price Tag"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstealth-fighters-performance-not-living-up-to-the-price-tag%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=186748&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a class=\"republishingLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.libertynation.com\/republishing-guidelines\/\">Please respect our republishing guidelines &#8211; Click Here<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feature-img test\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/F-35-Lightning-II-Stealth-fighter-feature.jpg\" alt=\"Stealth Fighter\u2019s Performance Not Living Up to the Price Tag\" \/><\/div>\n<p>As the Defense Department\u2019s Fiscal Year 2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.libertynation.com\/national-security-the-defense-budget-and-you-a-primer-part-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">budget<\/a>\u00a0is being readied for Congress, a darkening shadow falls on the most expensive weapon system in history, the F-35 Lightning II Stealth fighter. The F-35 program produces aircraft for the U.S. Navy, the Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force. Each service has a variation unique to its operational needs. That, combined with the aircraft\u2019s highly sophisticated stealth and weapons capabilities, adds significant complexity to the endeavor.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, there is an expectation of performance required to justify the cost. But anticipated performance has fallen short of promises, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lngenz.com\/what-is-the-federal-budget-part-2-deficit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">operating costs<\/a> have remained high.\u00a0\u00a0<em>Extreme Tech\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0Joel Hruska\u2019s\u00a0unflattering\u00a0commentary said, \u201cThere have been so many problems with the F-35, it\u2019s difficult even to summarize them. Pilot blackouts, premature part failures, software development disasters, and more have all figured in various documents over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Describing one of the more recent failings,\u00a0<em>Bloomberg News<\/em>\u00a0Pentagon correspondent Tony Capaccio explained, \u201cThe 25mm gun on the Air Force models of the Joint Strike Fighter has \u2018unacceptable\u2019 accuracy in hitting ground targets and is mounted in a housing that\u2019s cracking, the Pentagon\u2019s test office said in its latest assessment of the costliest U.S. weapon system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-564227\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/defense-graph-300x219-1.jpg\" alt width=\"450\" height=\"328\" \/>Additionally, the General Accountability Office, in its recent\u00a0assessment\u00a0of the F-35 program after approximately 500 F-35s have been delivered, concluded: \u201cHowever, the F-35s in the field have not met the standards for reliability and maintainability, indicating that the program is not delivering aircraft of the level of quality expected.\u201d For the taxpayer, none of this is good news. The F-35 was slated to replace legacy F-16 Falcons, F\/A-18 Hornets, AV-8B Harrier vertical takeoff and landing fighters, and the venerable and effective ground-attack A-10 Warthogs.<\/p>\n<p>The accompanying graphic portrays the stark magnitude of the cost-versus-performance dilemma faced by the Defense Department and the services in continuing with the F-35 program. The\u00a0bar chart\u00a0\u2014 often referred to inside the Pentagon as the \u201ctornado chart\u201d \u2014 shows the F-35 program compared with the other top 20 Major Defense Acquisition Programs listed by program cost in millions of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>When putting the F-35 procurement cost, including engines only, next to the other programs, the F-35 total program cost at nearly $400 billion is roughly twice the nearest other program and $10 billion more than the top three U.S. Navy shipbuilding programs. The F-35 costs $44 billion more than the bottom 11 programs combined. The expense would be justified if the F-35 were performing, but the program is falling short.<\/p>\n<p>The failure to meet expected performance goals is being reflected in veiled references by the services to look for alternatives. \u00a0Notably, the Air Force is pursuing complementary programs, such as the Boeing F-15EX, a modernized, more capable F-15E.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, at a virtual conference sponsored by the Air Force Association, Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles Q. Brown suggested that the Air Force might buy fewer fifth-generation jets than the planned 1,763. In his coverage of Brown\u2019s comments, Marcus Weisgerber from\u00a0<em>Defense One<\/em>\u00a0described an alternative program:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cBrown sparked some alarm when he first discussed the tactical aircraft review with reporters last week. In that meeting, the general raised the possibility of buying a newly-designed fighter jet to replace old F-16 fighters \u2014 a job the F-35 is supposed to be filling. \u2018I want to be able to build something new and different that\u2019s not the F-16, that has some of those capabilities, but gets there faster and features a digital approach,\u2019 Brown said at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Make no mistake about it: If the Air Force is looking for a replacement for the F-16 \u201cthat\u2019s not an F-16\u201d and it\u2019s not an F-35A, there\u2019s a big problem. And another damning assessment came from Brown:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201c\u2019I want to moderate how much we\u2019re using those aircraft,\u2019 the general said. \u2018You don\u2019t drive your Ferrari to work every day, you only drive it on Sundays. This is our high-end, we want to make sure we don\u2019t use it all for the low-end fight \u2026 We don\u2019t want to burn up capability now and wish we had it later.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The F-35 was not supposed to be the \u201chigh-end.\u201d As David Axe put it in\u00a0<em>Forbes:<\/em> \u201cThe Air Force alone wanted nearly 1,800 F-35s to replace aging F-16s and A-10s and constitute the low end of a low-high fighter mix, with 180 twin-engine F-22s making up the high end.\u201d The F-35 was supposed to be the workhorse that would have stealth for both air-to-air engagements and highly accurate air-to-ground capability for close air support to protect ground forces.<\/p>\n<p>Does the F-35, with its flaws, have enough capability to justify its cost? That will be determined in the crucible of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.libertynation.com\/national-security-the-defense-budget-and-you-a-primer-part-2-of-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">congressional budget<\/a>\u00a0process.<\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>~<\/p>\n<p><em>Read more from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.libertynation.com\/author\/dave-patterson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Dave Patterson.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ctx-article-root\"><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Please respect our republishing guidelines &#8211; Click Here As the Defense Department\u2019s Fiscal Year 2022\u00a0budget\u00a0is being readied for Congress, a darkening shadow falls on the most expensive weapon system in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274565,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/F-35-Lightning-II-Stealth-fighter-feature.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Stealth Fighter\u2019s Performance Not Living Up to the Price Tag","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/F-35-Lightning-II-Stealth-fighter-feature.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Stealth Fighter\u2019s Performance Not Living Up to the Price Tag","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}