Milo,
UK would have to pay to be different so it is not an option to build something that looks like an F-35 on the outside but is actually completely different underneath. The whole point of F-35 is economies of scale.
People talk about an indiginous aircraft - the last one of those we had was Sea Harrier. Jaguar, Tornado, Typhoon were/are all co-operative with other nations, just European rather than US. Helos are the same, with Merlin being half Italian. We cannot afford to be indiginous. Why are people so keen to buy F-18 or Rafale instead which have NO UK involvement. At least Gripen is partially BAES.
A lot of the test engineers and test pilots involved in F-35 flight test are Brits from BAES and QinetiQ, the UK is an integral part of this project from the roots up. Labeling it as a Spamcan is grossly inaccurate.
F-35 will not be cancelled, it's too big and too important to the US services. It is expensive and late, so was Tornado, Typhoon, MRA4 and A400M so I don't know why F-35 is singled out as the only offender. Would we be further ahead in flight test achievements if this was a UK project? I really doubt it.
Define "works"? Did Typhoon in Block 1 config "work" compared to what it was supposed to do? Even with updates could it self designate for A-G when it needed to in Libya? Modern acquisition (and I'm not saying this is right) involves incremental improvements to add capabability through life so is "works" the ultimate end state?
Bastardeaux - no-one has been killed flying an F-35 yet. Not saying it won't happen, accidents do, but it's a bit rich to start throwing that around just yet.
Last edited by WhiteOvies; 10th Jul 2012 at 13:06.