Pentagon grounds F-35 fleet after engine crack found
US Air Force F-35 joint strike fighter jet / AP Graphics
Updated 9:03 PM ET
WASHINGTON The Pentagon on Friday grounded its fleet of F-35 fighter jets after discovering a cracked engine blade in one plane.
The problem was discovered during what the Pentagon called a routine inspection at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., of an F-35A, the Air Force version of the sleek new plane. The Navy and the Marine Corps are buying other versions of the F-35, which is intended to replace older fighters like the Air Force F-16 and the Navy F/A-18.
All versions -- a total of 51 planes -- were grounded Friday pending a more in-depth evaluation of the problem discovered at Edwards. None of the planes have been fielded for combat operations; all are undergoing testing.
In a brief written statement, the Pentagon said it is too early to know the full impact of the newly discovered problem.
A watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight, said the grounding is not likely to mean a significant delay in the effort to field the stealthy aircraft.
"The F-35 is a huge problem because of its growing, already unaffordable, cost and its gigantically disappointing performance," the group's Winslow Wheeler said. "That performance would be unacceptable even if the aircraft met its far-too-modest requirements, but it is not."
The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program at a total estimated cost of nearly $400 billion. The Pentagon envisions buying more than 2,400 F-35s, but some members of Congress are balking at the price tag.
Friday's suspension of flight operations will remain in effect until an investigation of the problem's root cause is determined.
The Pentagon said the engine in which the problem was discovered is being shipped to a Pratt & Whitney facility in Connecticut for more thorough evaluation.
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If Congress has its way, each and every man, woman and child in America will spend over $1200 for these jets.
I'm sure there are some good research developments that will come out of this disaster, but it was a terrible idea to try to implement this awful program.
Time to pull the plug.
"A room-full of people could out perform with multiple tasks against any bandits with ease, and over-load any intruders trying to breach the fighter."
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So, instead of having to individually target an aircraft in a sky full of aircraft, the opposing forces would only have to take out one target. The "room full of people" who are remotely flying the sky full of aircraft. Or perhaps use their counter-electrionic warfare assets to interfere, degrade, or possibly eliminate the communications link between the "room full of people" and the drone aircraft.
Don't let the current success of the remotely piloted drone make you wide-eyed at the possiblities for unmanned drones flying air-to-air combat missions. If you will notice the current drones sucesses are aginst ground targets in a virtually electronic counter-measures free environment. This is because the hostile groups targeted by the drones have the electronic counter-measure capacity of the average Cub Scout Pack, maybe even less.
Even with all of the shortcomings you mentioned for having a pilot in the aircraft, a pilot will have to be in the aircraft for the forseeable future for air superiority missions.
CBS reports, "The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program at a total estimated cost of nearly $400 billion". That $400 billion F-35 program total (spent over several years) is half of the current Pentagon budget.
That same Pentagon budget-- if "black operations" involving Pentagon participation is included-- approximates $1 trillion yearly. Such a gargantuan price tag is more than all other military budgets of the world, combined.
By a hideous paradox, this soaring Pentagon budget has not bought us peace and security, but exactly the opposite-- more conflicts, and more expensive conflicts throughout the world. When one war ends, another begins--almost on schedule-- in a cycle of escalating costs promoted by military planners and their hawkish congressional enablers.
As Clemenceau once said, "War is too important to be left to the generals." Yet, critical congressional oversight of military spending has been notoriously absent, with both major political parties complacent and eager to take the Secretary of Defense point of view on most matters-- especially for defense spending in home districts.
And so the yearly cost of what is termed "national defense" continues to rise, while the actual basis for planning continues to fall apart..
The few exceptions to easy congressional support come from notorious, spectacular failures of weapons programs-- such as lethal Y22 Osprey hazards and drastic underperformance, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, continued F22 pilot oxygen issues, and now the critical F35 engine crack. Most or all of these failures are due to risky, costly programs sold to congress with assurance, but developed over years with considerably more misgivings (and greater costs).
Pentagon misspending is a continuing, ever more severe crisis. Unless radically reformed, the Pentagon will continue to wage war on American citizens by its huge burden on the taxpayer. We must place the DOD on a truly stringent review of all its fundamental presumptions about national security. Only such a basic and critical reevaluation can resolve the political pathology known as "The Pentagon Budget".
Eisenhower correctly saw the creation of a defense contractor subculture-- nurtured by a steady flow of Pentagon contracts to Most Favored Corporations, no matter how austere the budget.
That small but thriving insider community became incestuous-- contractor chiefs later won DOD positions, and at the changing of the guard at the next election, returned to industry as "consultants" (lobbyists). In the Pentagon contractor community, everyone is on everyone's else's contact list (how else do we suppose PRC hackers move so quickly?).
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This is a prime example why the defense budget is around 10X that of our closst possible adversity - China. Congress has to run a study as to what does the F-35 provide that the current F016 and the navy jet does not provide in terms of the current real time situation. Why it does not is because certain powerful members of Congress - both parties - want the F-35 because of the money involved. We can never even begin to make a dent in the deficit as long as this stuff happens.
Example: "Lockheed Martin executive vice president Tom Burbage and former Pentagon director of operational testing Tom Christie have said that most of the delays in the total program have been due to issues with the F-35B, which forced massive redesigns on the other versions."
Also, another bean-counter's delight/fantasy was to concurrently continue production while testing. That's equivalent to changing a car tire while driving down the highway.
Was it the Kennedy Assassination?
Gee. I wonder how many homeless people, underwater homeowners, out-of-work construction workers, poor college students $400 billion dollars could help.
I wonder how many bridges could have been repaired, how many roads could have been built, how many laid off teachers, policemen and firemen could have been rehired for 400 billion dollars
Instead what we got was a few expensive jet fighters that aren't even fit to fly....
It's high time we cut spending where waste is clearly not being properly managed...THE PENTAGON
Enough to shelter all americas' homeless, and pay for bridges and highways.
The sad thing is that we can cut out useless programs like these and stop being the world's policeman. That would be enough to balance the budget.