Kinda sad really, Sec. Of Defense is mad that his Generals kept speaking out saying 187 planes is not enough,even though all indications point to more then 187 needed. So he in turn put out an order that said the next person to speak out, will be seeing him personally, possible loosing there job. Now there is no more public record of any one saying any thing other then "We Support the White House fully in its decision..."

Now the Sec. Def is saying there have been no indication from the USAF or the Pentagon that more planes are needed, as its abilities mated to that of the F-35 will provide the US and it partners the freedom and protection they want.  (or there about, I don't remember the exact quote) I still remember before he gave the order to "shut up", that he was mad that no one was asking for more UAV's and other unmanned stuff.

But it looks like he is getting what he wants, a boat load of UAV's, and a plane that nobody is 100% sure can carry every thing the F-16C and AV-8B can carry, that it is supposed to be replacing. The USAF waiting almost 20 years for the perfect replacement to the F-15, just to have it axed after a few years of production....oh yeah and it is not allowed in the desert theater per the Sec. Defense ether. So it will never get the bug worked out of it properly like it should, now they are gonna have to find and deal with stuff, during a unpredictable combat situation when it comes up, rather then now when it can see what can be improved while in the actual roll it can do now.   

Every one keeps bringing up how nice it looks and how maneuverable it is, witch is all true and all, but you forget that underneath the skin is every thing learned from the F-15 and F-16. The overly powerful radar that allows it to see further then any thing trying to find it, the ability to pick up evade and or destroy radar sites like F-16CJ, able to act as it own AEWCS platform for it self, and to others over the battle field, part of Air Superiority is making sure there are no ground threats of any kind also. Provide a much larger coverage of area for troops below as it can detect many more hostels and engage them faster and quieter then it predecessor, and if you put 2 Raptors up there, they can cover a much larger area, and with the ability to see each other radar and share information automatically, what one sees, they all see, providing perfect protection for land and air. Oh yeah and don't for get the 50 or so F-117 that were sent to the Bone Yard to make room for the extra F-22's that were supposed to take over it's job. So they expect the plane to do triple duty while only having a less then modest handful? 

Dr.bob7 wrote on Jul 21^st, 2009 at 8:20pm:

As of right now the F-35 is projected at $180-mill and climbing for batch #1, while the F-22 is only $140-mill, and would drop in price if the USAF order more, and the US State Department approves the sale of the Raptor to Japan and Israel. Then it is said to drop the price to around $100-mill per unit.

While the F-35 on the other hand would not be at the "target" $80-mill until batch 3 left the assembly line. And because of this, this is why the joint countries involved don't wanna buy it until the price is fixed at the low affordable coast that was promised  when they all signed up for it. But the more it gets delayed, the more expensive it becomes until they are coming of the assembly lines as proper production units.
So it is up to the USA to buy the first batch and most of the 2nd batch in order for the coast to go down so the partners could aford it. Israel already said if Lockheed could promise the price at $80-$100-mill, they would give them the money now for a firm order of like 80 jets or so.

No politics please. Good reasons. This is just not the place.


Thank you.