Originally Posted by
SansAnhedral
Today is the first day of fall. And yet again, Sikorsky misses another milestone with this program. Literally every single date, whether it was contractually driven or self-imposed, has been missed or slipped by both the Defiant and Raider teams. It's simply mind boggling.
I have been following these programs for going on 10 years now, and have been suspicious of most of the claims from a technical standpoint nearly the entire time (hell just look at my post history). I cannot fathom how there has been almost zero pressing done by the aerospace and defense community and media journalists regarding the repeated failures, complete opacity, and outright lying that has come from Sikorsky throughout.
Nearly weekly there are news stories regarding FVL with headlining pictures displaying Defiant and breathless commentary about how its a leading contender for FLRAA. Does anyone else feel like they are taking crazy pills reading these pieces year in and year out? Will Defiant even fly again by year end now? Even the laughable historical lifetime combined flight rate for all ABC aircraft of 1 hour / month far exceeds what Defiant has achieved thus far.
There are so few remaining suppliers in the sector that a publication would be courting suicide to alienate any of them.
Hence all news reports are slightly massaged press releases, rather than independent opinions.
Bad for the industry and bad for the tax payer, but short term profitable.
Imho, the relevant precedent is the pre WW2 French defense industry, it produced some truly superb gear such as the Char 2bis, was hugely profitable and an abject failure from a national perspective.