Hmm, still not cancelled.
Now, F-35's delivered to the UK. If we do a modest review of the history, we will note whence the majority of the complaining posters are from
since about post 1 of this thread.
Well he may not have posted on PPRuNe,
AFAIK, but…..
The Pentagon's own Director of OT&E - a retired USAF Major General, a respected and highly experienced TP has said:
"The operational suitability of the F-35 fleet remains below requirements and is dependent on work-arounds that would not meet Service expectations in combat situations.”
This is not the conclusion of some jaded and cynical journalist, conditioned to expect the worst after living with the trials and tribulations of what has been a difficult, troubled and much delayed programme for most of his adult life. Nor has it originated from the F-35’s competitors. This is the judgement of the Pentagon’s own head of Operational Test and Evaluation – a high official with an unequalled view of the F-35 development, test and evaluation programme, and the senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense on operational and live fire test and evaluation of Department of Defense weapon systems.
Nor is Behler out of step with his predecessor, Dr. Michael Gilmore, who judged that
“the operational suitability of all variants continues to be less than desired by the Services."
Last year, Gilmore concluded that “if used in combat, the F-35 aircraft will need support to locate and avoid modern threat ground radars, acquire targets, and engage formations of enemy fighter aircraft due to
unresolved performance deficiencies and limited weapons carriage availability.”
The fact that they've delivered a handful to the UK proves nothing. It doesn't even answer the many criticisms levelled at the aircraft in the Times, by the NAO, or by the House of Commons Defence Committee in their paper.