Originally Posted by
ProPax
That's another Turkey strength. Turkish industry is very independent and actually dictates a lot of political decisions. In all honesty, I've never heard of brain drain from Turkey. Do you have some reading for me to do on that topic? I see that Turkey always forces a condition in all government contracts that young Turkish engineers work alongside foreign managers. Saw that at the mountain dams construction, but then again, I'm not claiming full knowledge of the field.
In the last five or so years, and this is directly related to the "coup" and the reaction to it, the intelligensia in Turkey has come under political attack by Erdogan's government: educators, etc. This is the kind of thing that can (though may not) lead to a brain drain wherein that core of any modern / industrial society may begin to migrate. Has that happened to a damaging extent? Unclear at this time, and it hopefully won't.
We see a bit of the Venezuelan brain drain where I live, as people have arrived from there over the past five years. The Brain Drain coming out of Mexico and into Texas has been happening for decades. A good number of my neighbors and friends are either related to, or are, educated people (many of them are graduates of the university in Monterry) who cannot find opportunity in their home country. So they come here.
As to the "need" for Turkey to be part of the F-35: we have plenty of allies, and that "plan" preceded the Erdogan government showing up. If they become politically unreliable, a deal can be made with someone else. (I suspect that UK industry would not mind a plus up in terms of engineering/manitenance business, for one). What I think was the attraction of Turkey was cost/burdened hour, or the perception of
lower labor costs.
I agree with you that the longer term plan for the F-35 has run into Erdogan's choosing to change course for Turkey, and the US reacting to that. Where I disagree is your implication that the Pentagon is acting in isolation. No, it isn't. This whole mess is a part of the political continuum. Politics never ends; there is no stop in play in politics.
As to the skunk works and the "one size fits all" - One Size Fits All was a
Congressional Mandate. Pure Politics. Both Boeing and LM tried to make a one size fits all to meet that requirement. It's the F-111 all over again.
As to pushing the edge of the tech envelope and reaching the point of diminishing returns, that's the subject of a PhD dissertation, not a post on PPRuNe.
