Originally Posted by
glad rag
You have continuously deleted anything negative to the "program" whilst allowing shrills like spaz and msocs free reign ...
Glad Rag, are you kidding? I look at our current page count, based on 20 posts per page, in a thread I've been participating in since near its beginning. It has reached page 487, during which time it has seen a non trivial volume of criticism of the F-35, both the aircraft and the program (much of it justified). How do you arrive at the statement
You have continuously deleted anything negative to the "program"
with a straight face?
As to Spaz and his never ending enthusiasm / shilling for the program -- I am pretty sure that most participants in this thread do what I do: consider the source.
(PS: as to your film clip, I want one, but the Missus has told me that she wants the roof replaced and the kitchen redone first, so my budget seems to be unable to allow it. Rats).
For ORAC: at the risk of sounding like a parochial rotary wing shill, this bit in the linked article annoys me.
Air support for friendly troops fighting the enemy is exactly where the lack of a usable cannon is most distinctly felt—and the F-35 won’t have a usable and test-proven cannon until 2019 at best. Cannons are the most effective weapon in far more CAS situations than rockets (which the F-35A currently does not carry) or a couple of guided bombs (which it does). This is true especially when the plane needs to engage a target in a “danger close” situation, with the enemy in very close proximity to friendly troops.
A few points.
1. That's what attack helicopters are for.
2. The last ten years 2.75 inch rocket improvement program gives the attack helicopter even more options to offer to the ground commander.
3. They weren't trying to replace the A-10's amazing gun/plane suite. Nothing can, nothing will.
4. The author seems to not know how "danger close" you can get with current LGB's.
5. All that said,
it is troubling to see that the software world is the long pole in this circus tent, and apparently getting longer.