Wherehaveibin? I've been doing interesting things, Spaz. There is life beyond PPRuNu yunno :-)
Yes, its all very wonderful on paper. But you've flown things which have been tested-to-death, quality assured, serviced by saints and have duplex/quadruplex digital flight systems and - by golly - don't they still fail, in unison, and usually at the most inopportune moments?
The more things there are to go wrong, the more things will go wrong. The more flight critical things there are in an airframe to hit, the more will be hit.
The F35 will end up being used by the Marines as a bomb truck. Get a marine in a quiet corner and he'll usually admit it too. And as a bomb truck it has some serious limitations.
Americans have the ability to produce some truly exceptional designs. I'm in awe of the X47. A remarkable step forwards. Degrading the UCLASS specification was crazy. It only makes sense if you're trying to kill the programme to save the F35, which would be the very definition of madness.
I don't know why I care. It's not my air force :-)
Last edited by hanoijane; 30th Aug 2013 at 19:32.