Pentagon officials have been preparing a misleading assessment of progress on Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35, the costliest U.S. weapons program, the Defense Department’s chief tester warned.
“If not changed, the existing responses would at best be considered misleading and at worst, prevarications,” Michael Gilmore, director of operational test and evaluation, wrote in an internal memo criticizing the draft response to questions about F-35 testing from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain.
Gilmore’s memo is the latest example of his vocal doubts about the F-35’s performance in key tests. His critiques are at odds with the Pentagon’s narrative that the program is on course after earlier problems. President-elect Donald Trump and his defense secretary — he’s nominating retired General James Mattis — will have to decide next year whether to increase F-35 production to 70 in fiscal 2018 from 63 this year, as requested by the Defense Department.
Trump, who on Tuesday complained that the cost of the new Air Force One being built by Boeing Co. “is totally out of control,” has also raised some questions in the past about the F-35. In an October 2015 interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump criticized the fighter’s cost and said he heard “that it’s not very good” and that “existing planes are better.”
As a criterion for this project, by this date over 1,000 F-35’s which had all systems functioning were supposed to have been delivered.
179 have been produced.
As an example of what happens when an inferior product finds itself in real shooting, please consider June, 1942.
The TBD torpedo bomber was the first line naval aircraft to attack enemy ships by torpedo.
At the battle of Midway, from the Hornet, 1 man of 15 crews survived, and 100% of VT-8 squadron was shot down, from the Enterprise with VT-6, 10 of 14 were shot down, and from the Yorktown’s VT-3, 10 of 12 were shot down.
None ever flew in combat again.
We have so invested in the F-35 that we can’t even contemplate such an outcome.
We need someone to tell key program personnel …
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