Apart from the (expected) woefully innacurate media reports on Australia "buying" the JSF, is anyone else amazed/disturbed by the decision to participate as a "developmental partner" (read: 'impotent bystander') on the F35???
To summarise, Australia has commited a small fortune to an aircraft not flying (I'm sorry but 'flyoff' prototypes don't count) on the premise that if we
do decide to purchase we
may save some money down track.
(I'm reminded of Milo Minderbinder in Catch-22 with his foolproof plan of having the Germans pay him to bomb his own airfield as a cost saving measure!)
How are the AIR6000 procurement team expected to be independent arbiters now?
The only positive I can foresee is that Aus may be forced to procure an 'off the shelf' aircraft to fill the 10+ year gap prior to AIR6000's arrival. Of course, we all know that the F35 WON'T have cost blowouts or be obsolete by the time it enters service...
