Slow DOWN F-35!!

Navy1960

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Sep 4, 2008
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The Pentagon is slowing down testing and acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz acknowledged Wednesday.

“The path we were on was too aggressive, so there’s an effort underway to reduce concurrency, to lengthen the period associated with testing, to increase the number of test assets and make the production rate somewhat less ambitious,” Schwartz said during a briefing with reporters in Washington.

The F-35 will be ready for initial operational capability with the Air Force in 2013, Schwartz said.

“While it would have been ideal to go without adjustment, there are very few programs of this sophistication that I’m aware of that have not required some adjustment,” said Schwartz. “This is in the larger interest of the larger attack community that will rely on” the jet.

He said the adjustment is meant to ensure that large numbers of F-35s can be built problem-free when it comes time to replace U.S. and allied fighter fleets toward the end of the decade.

Schwartz added that he did not think the jet was going to breach the Nunn-McCurdy statute’s limits on cost growth in weapon programs.
AF chief: F-35 testing, acquisition will slow - Navy News, news from Iraq - Navy Times

After the cancellation of follow-on orders for the F-22 and now with the decision to slow down production of the F-35 which was used as the excuse to cancel the F-22 in the first place, this decision will serve to highlight the serious aging issue with the current fleet of US aircraft.
 
Weapons are always the first thing cut. ALWAYS. No one with any sanity ever prevails on this idiot politicians and the reality of military needs. Testing and procurement should be the LAST thing cut not the first.
 
Weapons are always the first thing cut. ALWAYS. No one with any sanity ever prevails on this idiot politicians and the reality of military needs. Testing and procurement should be the LAST thing cut not the first.

Sustainment of existing equipment and protection of the soldier should be the first priority. Next generation equipment should be procured after we are sure our fielded equipment is maintained
 
It has not escaped me that the F-35 was used as the justification for cutting the F-22 production. Now here we have the F-35 being strung out. I wonder if people realize outside the Military and other people in the industry that the F-15. F-16, F-18, are not exactly brand new aircraft anymore and are aging to a point where you have little issues like inflight breakups like the one that grounded all the F-15's recently due to the Japanese F-16 that broke up in mid-flight!! The longer they dely these new aircraft the older the fleet gets and more chance for these kinds of things.
 

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