Oh the tangled web we weave and I guess my remarks regarding profits or the lack thereof were very much tongue in cheek and I apologise for the confusion. When governments make defence overspends that exceed £100m then this money is being paid into the defence industry?? (Question).
I am sure it is a pure coincidence that we see ex government ministers, plus very senior retired flag officers going into this type of industry.
Admiral Sir John Slater, the former first sea lord, left the military in 1998 and became a director and senior adviser to
Lockheed Martin UK. Is this the company that manufactures the F-35??
Michael Portillo, The secretary of state for defence from 1995 to 1997, became non-executive director of
BAE Systems in 2002 before
stepping down in 2006.
No doubt it was a pure coincidence that BAe commenced the manufacture of the F-35 in............ what year?? wait for it..........
Look here
for the answer
Yup a pure coincidence that the ex Secretary of State for Defence was a director on the board of BAe from 2002 until 2006 and it is just a coincidence that midway between that term the company started manufacturing significant parts of the F-35. His First class degree in History would no doubt be hugely beneficial when advising BAe regarding any technical issues they might face during any negotiations he may or may not have been involved in 'after leaving office!'
Then we have these paragons of virtue:
Someone who is NOT on my Christmas card list...
Lord Reid, secretary of state for defence from 2005 to 2006, said in 2008 that he had become group consultant to G4S, the security company that worked closely with the Ministry of Defence in Iraq.
Major-General Graham Binns left the military this year and is chief executive of Aegis Defence Services, a leading security company.
Sir Kevin Tebbit, permanent under secretary at the MoD, is chairman of Finmeccanica UK, owner of Westland helicopters.
David Gould, the former chief operating officer of the MoD's procurement division, is now chairman of Selex Systems, part of Finmeccanica.
These appointments are to me just plain wrong, government officials and senior officer should NOT be allowed to get ANY type of remuneration from any companies that they may have been involved with during their time either in government or serving the Crown. Folks who may be far more cynical than my good self might think they are exposing themselves to all types of allegations.
I am a nosey devil and am curious as to the contracts regarding the rear section and was wondering how it gets negotiated. Would I be correct to suggest the rear section of the 'B' model would be the most complex and therefore possibly the most expensive?
If the 'B' series gets cancelled or as has already happened, the numbers are greatly reduced. Would the contract be renegotiated, or is it a fixed price contract based on numbers?
Is the 'B' still on probation and has there been any literature on the tests carried out aboard the USS Wasp.
Originally Posted by Congressional Research Services pages 10/11
Responding to issues detailed in the technical review, on January 6, 2011, Secretary of Defense Gates announced a change in the F-35 testing
and production plan focused on the F-35B:
In short, two of the JSF variants, the Air Force version and the Navy’s carrier-based version, are proceeding satisfactorily.
By comparison, the Marine Corps’ short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant is experiencing significant testing problems. These issues may lead to a redesign of the aircraft’s structure and propulsion, changes that could add yet more weight and more cost to an aircraft that has little capacity to absorb more of either.
As a result, I am placing the STOVL variant on the equivalent of a two-year probation. If we cannot fix this variant during this time frame and get it back on track in terms of performance, cost and schedule, then I believe it should be canceled.
We will also move the development of the Marine variant to the back of the overall JSF production sequence.
Three major technical issues emerged for the F-35B.
The first was premature wear on hinges for the auxiliary inlet door feeding the F-35B’s lift fan, which caused the F-35B fleet to be grounded in September 2010. A technical fix was in place by January 2011.
Second, cracks were discovered in a bulkhead of an F-35B used for fatigue testing “after the airplane had been subjected to the equivalent of about 1,500 hours of flight time out of 16,000 hours planned.”
Prime contractor Lockheed Martin has redesigned the bulkhead, and “‘(o)ther locations of similar design are also being assessed,’ company spokesman John Kent said in an e-mailed statement Jan. 11.” The aluminum bulkhead is unique to the F-35B; “F-35A and F-35C bulkheads are still made of titanium, as are similar bulkheads on the F-22.” I have altered the font colour just to highlight this issue is only relevant to the 'B' model.
Third, the driveshaft, lift-fan clutch, and actuator for the F-35B’s roll-post nozzles will be redesigned following discovery that the driveshaft contracts and expands more than expected, and that the other components experience more heat than anticipated during flight operations.
Moving F-35B development, which had been scheduled to lead the program, to the back of the queue should reduce the impact of F-35B issues on the schedule for the A and C models, which are encountering fewer development challenges
.