Top StoriesMay’s sharp fall in jobless numbers added to the greenness of the ‘recovery’ (or less bad) thesis; overnight June’s unemployment figures were so awful that they could have stunted at least, the wavering shoots.
F-35: Untested, two years late and $15 billion more
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Defence is on the marketing horse Australian Air Force chief Mark Binskin Binskin and others state the need for the aircraft, but have little proof to back up the alleged combat prowess of the jet. Binskin’s quote in today’s Australian is cause for more worry: ”We are looking at what will be the best multi-role aircraft in the world,” he said. “It will have the best radar, the best defensive system of any of those aircraft in the world. It will be supported by the best airborne early warning and control aircraft and the best tanker in the world and flown, maintained and supported by the best people in the world. I’ve got to tell you: the system ain’t going to get any better than that.” This is interesting when you consider the airborne early warning and control aircraft he mentions is years late and few of the electronic sensing devices have been figured out. The project, known as Wedgetail, The F-35 has few test hours on it, and yet its first user, the US Marine Corps, is somehow expected to have theirs working in 2012. Worse is that no one has a clue what it will cost Australia, assuming it works. As Dr Gumley of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) Most of what the public has been hearing from Defence in relation to the F-35 is nothing more than marketing spin. Rumors presented in the news on what will and what will not be in the White Paper make the product’s purpose look more like a justification for hardware and less about strategic vision. When Defence officials start to display objectivity instead of marking spin hype, maybe we will get some value for our taxpayer dollars. |
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5 Comments
Its not that I necessarily wish to dispute the remarks of Eric L. Palmer, but I’d be interested to learn of his credentials and background since its not a name I’ve noticed in this realm before, but perhaps I’ve been living in a shadow.
Defence is determined to buy American come what may! Never mind the merits of the Russian built Sukhoi which the Indonesians are buying.Mind you the Indonesian record for maintaining their fighters isn’t all that great so I can only imagine they shall be bringing in some Russian technicians to service these aircraft.
That’ll have Defence running for cover.
Air Marshal Binskin also lauded the untested F 35 with our neighbours off the shelf Sukhoi Flankers. All he or Fitzgibbon need do is open web http://www.ausairpower.net
to see the Suk fly and worry about that $22 B tax money.
We need the JSFs - if you accept that, fine, but they appear to be a fine example of what we in software call vapourware. Lets buy something with a delivery date that’s less nebulous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Nukem_Forever
You’ve got to hand it to those Ruskis…..they’ve got a kick arse warplane on the wing now for a fraction
of the cost of this theoritical pyjama party F 35……shades of the space race, with the Russian’s beating the Yanks to the punch with pure technological genius……..on a limited budget…….and now for unmanned fighter technology…no doubt the Russian think tank has already outflanked the flaccid, $ driven US military industrial elite’s best efforts……” more battles have been lost on the playing fields of Eton than anywhere west of Vladivostock ” …know what I mean, old son…..