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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 04:20 PM
It's examples like this that make me boil with anger when tax day arrives. But hey, maybe I can write to my Congressman and he'll put a stop to it... lol!
Do you want to see a perfect example of how American tax dollars are lost into the black hole of the Military Industrial Complex? Do you need yet another example of how politicians are bought and paid for by lobbyists? Watch the following video.
The f-35 fighter jet, supposedly the next generation in air superiority, is an unmitigated failure. Over 1.5 TRILLION will be spent and it isn't close to being ready for service.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 04:36 PM
I'm sure there are lots of problems with the F-35 but that video only shows it doing cool shit and never tells me what any of the problems actually are.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 04:39 PM
Wasteful spending? Pfffttt...
Our govt spent 500K on PICKLE RESEARCH in the 80's.
Wasteful spending is the only thing keeping our economy afloat.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 05:11 PM
Given that the current fighters, the F-15, F-16, and F-18, were introduced between 1972 and 1978, I'm inclined to withhold judgment.
When they work out the bugs and get the production lines going and some foreign sales, the unit cost will go down. If the current model holds, the F-35 will still be flying in the USAF in 2050.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 05:20 PM
Worst part is that after wasting hundreds of billions of US taxpayer money---the
Chinese steal the technology on the cheap for pennies. Priceless. Your government at work.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 05:21 PM
Probably the fatal flaw was the idea that one plane could service 3 different branches, with all of their different needs. I suspect there were moving goals and design benchmarks, that required constant re-design, as well as infighting between the services as to what features should get priority. Add to that usual gov contractor BS, and you have this debacle.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 06:31 PM
One of the many bullshit policies is to spread out production of military equipment over as many Congressional districts as possible. That way no one will vote against a spending reduction that will effect their district.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 06:51 PM
Quote: (02-13-2014 05:11 PM)Sp5 Wrote:
Given that the current fighters, the F-15, F-16, and F-18, were introduced between 1972 and 1978, I'm inclined to withhold judgment.
When they work out the bugs and get the production lines going and some foreign sales, the unit cost will go down. If the current model holds, the F-35 will still be flying in the USAF in 2050.
At least the F-16 had a low price tag. In the late 70s it costs roughly 9 million per aircraft, way less than the F-14 which was closer to 20 million. It was a move away from the bulky aircraft like the F-4 and F-14.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 07:02 PM
I was really into military aircraft and planes in general when I was a kid so, I know it's kind of dumb, but I can't be too upset because at least all that government spending is going towards something cool and "real" versus all the taxpayer money that dissapears with nothing to show for it.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 07:41 PM
I don't think you understand all this shit is by design.
The kids of Lockheed executives go to the same schools as the kids of the Congresspeople.
You are all pawns.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 09:08 PM
In my day job, I oversee a number of volunteer staff. One of them has been unable to serve in his normal duties because he has been "on lock down" working "out the kinks" on the F-35 project in for the last few weeks. Can't take calls, emails, nothing. I figured that's a pretty important job, no worries.
And then I see this.
Tax dollars at work.
Honestly no matter how you slice it- on a macro scale, the military-industrial complex is the biggest problem there is in America.
The Peru Thread
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 11:10 PM
You guys really think that whole 1.5 trillion will be spent on this ? I got news for you, probably over half that money has been stolen and is going into far more advanced shit we could ever dream of.... This is just window dressing for the congress and the american people.
Do you guys really believe the fastest plane on record is from 1976 ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_airspeed_record
Im pretty sure in 1976 computers still took up whole rooms if not whole buildings... Now they fit in the palm of your hand and can follow you to the ends of the earth... But the military industrial complex cant build anything faster than a plane designed in the 60's
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 11:26 PM
^^ yeah and that thing only got out to the public because the president accidentally mentioned it in a speech. They used to set records the same day they retired planes.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-13-2014, 11:55 PM
Only the F-35B version has the VTOL thrust vectoring of the Yak-41. The "A" version is a straight out CTOL plane, and the "C" is for CATOBAR.
There is a lot of umm'ing and err'ing over the cost, but BigInJapan made a good point, it's the biggest tech project in the west since the Nuclear Bomb, a lot of 'collateral technology' is probably being funnelled through this project, and if off the books, it means it stays in the Pentagon, and for the U.S. government to use against poor saps, including its own civilistions, at a further date.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-23-2014, 01:09 PM
The current US National Debt is over 17 trillion dollars. The F-35 is now at 1.5 trillion dollars and it's still full of problems.
This project is close to 1/10 of the US National Debt. Think about that, especially you Americans, when April 15th arrives. But hey, at least it looks cool!
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2...35-Fighter
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
Perhaps Big in Japan is right. The money is being stolen and funneled elsewhere.
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The F-35 Fighter - A Case Study in Pentagon Waste and Corruption
02-23-2014, 01:58 PM
Here are the various problems I see with the F35 project:
1. Not combat tested. This is like learning Game but never approaching.
2. Increased pilot accountability, in three manners: first, he is going to be immensely pressured not to destroy his own jet, due to the excruciating cost of the individual unit. Second, he is going to be immensely pressured to agree that all the bells and whistles are absolutely necessary, due to the excruciating cost of the program. Third, he is going to be immensely pressured not to destroy his own jet, due to the whim of politics- the public might use the fate of one jet to make inferences about the entire program. I remind you that this burden is on the pilot, and he isn't even thinking about shooting down the enemy yet.
3. "If its stupid, but it works, it isn't stupid." If the thing is really so damn awesome in combat, the enemy will blow up fuel trucks, and you will have to ground either the superadvanced jet, or the helicopters that rescue wounded men from battle. Or they will suicide bomb the mechanics, so you can't fix the thing.
4. Pretend the avionics gets hit by one stray .50 round. With older aircraft, slap a band aid on it and get back in the fight. With this jet? Who knows. In war, things have to be either simple to fix, or modular. I get the feeling every part on this thing is specialized.
5. Expectation to use 'air superiority' fighters implies expectation of an air battle. Expectation of an air battle should imply an expectation for surface to air missiles, antiaircraft flak, enemy fighters, anti aircraft guns, etc.
6. All the technology in the world will never invalidate Murphy's Laws of combat.
I could go on but you get the idea.