F-35 Cancelled, then what ?
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Battlespace? obsolete. The new paradigm is the Battlesphere.....
LW50 - IMHO the loony thinkers are the land-war zealots who quote Thucydides, various Romans and Clausewitz to explain why the Navy is a secure transport service and the Army should own all the aircraft.
Like the American Enterprise Institute head-cases who compared a dispersed off-runway F-35B force to cavalry, I kid you not.
I mean, I think we had a discussion in the Global Unpleasantness of 1914-18 about whether the airplane was a very fast horse, a long-range gun or a kind of torpedo boat, and it concluded with a firm "none of the above".
Like the American Enterprise Institute head-cases who compared a dispersed off-runway F-35B force to cavalry, I kid you not.
I mean, I think we had a discussion in the Global Unpleasantness of 1914-18 about whether the airplane was a very fast horse, a long-range gun or a kind of torpedo boat, and it concluded with a firm "none of the above".
LO:
no argument there.
ORAC:
FFS, it's almost as though the development of new buzz words is believed to improve fighting effectiveness. The critical battlespace is that space between the ears of the commander, be he in charge of a fire team, a battalion, a ship, or a corps.
Further comments
no argument there.
ORAC:
FFS, it's almost as though the development of new buzz words is believed to improve fighting effectiveness. The critical battlespace is that space between the ears of the commander, be he in charge of a fire team, a battalion, a ship, or a corps.
Further comments
Last edited by Lonewolf_50; 21st Mar 2013 at 14:34.
Probably. "Support to the Warfighter" may have been coined to convince Congress that the money was being spent on operations rather than another golf course at a given Air Force Base. 
Linked, I'll guess, to the never ending arguments over the "tooth to tail" ratio of forces and resources.
EDIT: I did some poking around, and found someone who first began hearing that term in the days of Cheney as Sec Def (Bush 41) and a few of his minions, like Wolfowitz. Not sure how accurate that is, and I seem to recall more "warrior" jargon from the Army in the 90's than "warfighter" until OEF, when "warfighter" sprang up all over the place.
Anecdotal, so of limited value in tracking down the culprits. It was someone on our side of the pond, just not sure who.
We in the Navy were all full of "... From the Sea" and "Forward, From the Sea" as our sales pitch to Congress in the roles and missions debates of the same era.
Oddly enough, THAT is the era which gave rise to the JSF requirements ... and here we are, still talking about JSF. Circle closed, eh?
Linked, I'll guess, to the never ending arguments over the "tooth to tail" ratio of forces and resources.
EDIT: I did some poking around, and found someone who first began hearing that term in the days of Cheney as Sec Def (Bush 41) and a few of his minions, like Wolfowitz. Not sure how accurate that is, and I seem to recall more "warrior" jargon from the Army in the 90's than "warfighter" until OEF, when "warfighter" sprang up all over the place.
Anecdotal, so of limited value in tracking down the culprits. It was someone on our side of the pond, just not sure who.
We in the Navy were all full of "... From the Sea" and "Forward, From the Sea" as our sales pitch to Congress in the roles and missions debates of the same era.
Oddly enough, THAT is the era which gave rise to the JSF requirements ... and here we are, still talking about JSF. Circle closed, eh?
Last edited by Lonewolf_50; 21st Mar 2013 at 15:28.
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Today at the RAF Museum. Somebody very knowledgeable about the project, insisted the technical problems are insurmountable.
Last edited by kbrockman; 22nd Mar 2013 at 19:16.
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Just because it doesn't work doesn't mean it won't be bought!
Dutch orders for F-35 likely to be scaled back: sources - The Globe and Mail
The Netherlands was slated to buy 85 F-35 A-models to replace its F-16 fighter jets. But the former defence minister last year said the government would buy as few as 56 F-35s because costs had risen and only 68 F-16s needed to be replaced.
....
With a budget of about €4.5-billion to replace the F-16s, the Netherlands can only afford 33 to 35 F-35s, the source said, citing estimates from the General Auditor’s office, which checks that the government spends public funds as intended.
....
With a budget of about €4.5-billion to replace the F-16s, the Netherlands can only afford 33 to 35 F-35s, the source said, citing estimates from the General Auditor’s office, which checks that the government spends public funds as intended.
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Utubby Vid: DOD_100768291-1080x720-3000k
"Published on Mar 21, 2013
Maj Richard Rusnok, first "operational" STOVL sortie at VMFA-121 squadron, MCAS Yuma, Arizona"
VL + RVL by different F-35B aircraft.
VL Picture: http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/th...Yuma_VL-v2.jpg
"Published on Mar 21, 2013
Maj Richard Rusnok, first "operational" STOVL sortie at VMFA-121 squadron, MCAS Yuma, Arizona"
VL + RVL by different F-35B aircraft.
VL Picture: http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/th...Yuma_VL-v2.jpg
Luxembourg has the highest per capita income on the planet, and it isn't buying any F-35s. Those two facts may not be unconnected.
Labour force 368,400 of whom 154,900 are foreign cross-border workers commuting primarily from France, Belgium, and Germany
Last edited by peter we; 23rd Mar 2013 at 13:10.