There is a lot of Big Boy games happening in the US wrt the budget issues going forward - the budget deal yesterday removes Sequestration and the compulsory across the board cuts are off the table. Both Boeing and LockMart are in Warp Speed Lobbying mode. This item is indicative of the background battles going on to keep jobs in Congressional Districts particularly acute battles in mid-term election years.
"The Navy plans to buy the last F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers, a radar-jamming variant, in the fiscal year 2014 budget now very much up in the air on Capitol Hill. “If nothing is done, the last order closes around 2016,” Aboulafia told me. The Saint Louis factory still has some guaranteed work through 2018, building F-15 Eagles for Saudi Arabia, though further F-15 sales are much in doubt. The Hornet/Growler production line shuts down in 2016, however, and the supplier base starts withering well before: Boeing told me they’ll have to make key decisions on long-lead items in early 2014. “When you lose a line,” said Aboulafia, “you almost never get it back.”
http://breakingdefense.com/2013/12/forbes-champions-buying-super-hornets-f-18-vs-f-35-round-two/
Up here, the government has done a decent job of putting the deal on the back burner until the news storm dies down and the JSF Program matures past the point of the hysterical fear mongering orchestrated by our Glorious National Press and the Peace at any Price as Long as they Do Not Have to Pay folks over at the Rideau Institute et al.
By the time all the reviews etc are done and the public relations ground prepared the JSF will likely have more good news and success stories than last go around. It was just too easy to take some minor and normal aircraft development issue and torque that into a "JSF Program Fail". This time I expect they will have multiple good news stories from multiple nations and glowing reports from aircrew about capabilities and getting home alive. Price will be competitive with a Super Hornet and far less than a Rafale or a Eurofighter while delivering performance and capabilities that no other aircraft can match.
Interesting that the emphasis in the US is leaving the whole Stealth thingy behind and expanding the F-35 story to be about the Sensor capabilities:
"The F-35 is the finest sensor-enabled aircraft ever built. The F-35 is orders of magnitude better than the F-22 (which is the greatest air to air fighter ever built) as an electronic warfare enabled sensor-rich aircraft. We already are working synergy between F-22s and fourth generation aircraft to provide greater fidelity of the information shaping air combat operations. With the F-22 and F-35 combination and the folding in of on-orbit information and surveillance systems, we will be able to generate more synergy across the fleet,” the general told us.
The other advantage of the F-35 is its commonality across the services. “We are already working on greater synergy among the air power services; with the F-35 and deploying common assets in a dispersed fleet, the efforts we are making now for today’s conditions will only lead to more effective capabilities for tomorrow’s crises as well"
http://breakingdefense.com/2013/11/the-re-shaping-of-pacific-defense-an-interview-with-general-hawk-carlisle/
DND/PMO etc still need to up there game and get ready to sell the benefits as well as the capabilities. The Opposition will use this acquisition as a hammer to beat on the government, regardless if it damages CF capabilities.
"The Navy plans to buy the last F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers, a radar-jamming variant, in the fiscal year 2014 budget now very much up in the air on Capitol Hill. “If nothing is done, the last order closes around 2016,” Aboulafia told me. The Saint Louis factory still has some guaranteed work through 2018, building F-15 Eagles for Saudi Arabia, though further F-15 sales are much in doubt. The Hornet/Growler production line shuts down in 2016, however, and the supplier base starts withering well before: Boeing told me they’ll have to make key decisions on long-lead items in early 2014. “When you lose a line,” said Aboulafia, “you almost never get it back.”
http://breakingdefense.com/2013/12/forbes-champions-buying-super-hornets-f-18-vs-f-35-round-two/
Up here, the government has done a decent job of putting the deal on the back burner until the news storm dies down and the JSF Program matures past the point of the hysterical fear mongering orchestrated by our Glorious National Press and the Peace at any Price as Long as they Do Not Have to Pay folks over at the Rideau Institute et al.
By the time all the reviews etc are done and the public relations ground prepared the JSF will likely have more good news and success stories than last go around. It was just too easy to take some minor and normal aircraft development issue and torque that into a "JSF Program Fail". This time I expect they will have multiple good news stories from multiple nations and glowing reports from aircrew about capabilities and getting home alive. Price will be competitive with a Super Hornet and far less than a Rafale or a Eurofighter while delivering performance and capabilities that no other aircraft can match.
Interesting that the emphasis in the US is leaving the whole Stealth thingy behind and expanding the F-35 story to be about the Sensor capabilities:
"The F-35 is the finest sensor-enabled aircraft ever built. The F-35 is orders of magnitude better than the F-22 (which is the greatest air to air fighter ever built) as an electronic warfare enabled sensor-rich aircraft. We already are working synergy between F-22s and fourth generation aircraft to provide greater fidelity of the information shaping air combat operations. With the F-22 and F-35 combination and the folding in of on-orbit information and surveillance systems, we will be able to generate more synergy across the fleet,” the general told us.
The other advantage of the F-35 is its commonality across the services. “We are already working on greater synergy among the air power services; with the F-35 and deploying common assets in a dispersed fleet, the efforts we are making now for today’s conditions will only lead to more effective capabilities for tomorrow’s crises as well"
http://breakingdefense.com/2013/11/the-re-shaping-of-pacific-defense-an-interview-with-general-hawk-carlisle/
DND/PMO etc still need to up there game and get ready to sell the benefits as well as the capabilities. The Opposition will use this acquisition as a hammer to beat on the government, regardless if it damages CF capabilities.
