John Farley said it best when he wrote:
Perhaps the only advantage of getting old is that one has more experience to draw on.
John has a few years more experience than I do, but I can tell you some things from experience long before some of your time in the aviation business:
1. Had the all proposed F-111 program gone forward on the basis it was too big to fail, there would have been no Phantom Friday thread. In fact, looking at the F-14, F-15 and F-16 programs, one wouldn't have made it due to lack of funding. The F-111 was a budget drain from the get go, and the aircraft was a loser for what it was originally design for, both Navy and Air Force application. Luckily, some bright DoD leaders recognized the shortcomings and financial pitfall and cut if off after 100 aircraft. Design of separate aircraft commenced for separate missions.
2. The thought of designing one aircraft to accomplish three but distinct missions involving three services to save money was and is a pipe dream, plain and simple. A, B and C will never,
ever, be the best they could have been if three separate aircraft had been designed.
3. The thought that the cost of the aircraft will go down by increased production is one of the biggest mistakes in industry, unless you have a winning product design. The F-35 is not a winning product design, it is a compromise, time and again and it is not over yet. The budget wizards will make procurement costs
look like they are going down, but will never let you know that operational, maintenance and general support costs
will be rising faster and by far, longer in time going forward.
4. This is the first political designed fighter aircraft where placing components by States as demanded by Congressional nit-wits, as separate from participating Countries, outweighed both logic and in some cases, ability to make components reliably. US politics rule the day.
Original quote by: Not_a_boffin:
As stated earlier though, there must be some who've flown it and left. If it's such a dud, what's keeping them quiet?
Some US military General or Generals who are propelling the F-35 program forward at all cost, as was the USAF General who threatened his underlings with treason if they disagreed over elimination of the A-10 Warthogs. There are more like him.