Lets take a look at Admiral Manazir’s little happy world where budgets and reality don’t matter much.
—-
The Navy held a conference call with reporters today to shoot down any rumors that it’s going soft on the carrier version (F-35C) of the Joint Strike Fighter in favor of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
The Navy doesn’t have to “go soft” on the F-35C. The realities of budgets will do that for them. “I am all for the F-35C”….. (what isn’t said is that… “well what ever steak we can afford on a hamburger budget will do.”)
The Navy intends to buy 124 Super Hornets in a multiyear purchase plan between FY 2010–2013, for a grand total of 515 F/A-18E/F/G aircraft, said Rear Adm. Mike Manazir, head of naval aviation programs.
That was after Congress did an intervention. The Navy didn’t do much of this I am afraid. Reason? Career protection of not wanting to get fired by the Sith Lord Gates.
But the fact that the Navy continues to buy large numbers of Super Hornets does not mean it doesn’t plan to buy even more F-35s, a true “game changing” 5th generation stealth aircraft, he said.
“Game changer”. Thanks for the Lockheed Martin talking points sir. 5th generation? (Give him a break. He is only a RA and may need a job with industry after the Navy so he has to keep Linked-In friendly) Well only if it ever gets flight tested and passes a Navy OPEVAL (pencil whipped like the Super Hornet or otherwise). So far the only game changing is the sloth like progress in flight testing. And ask the admiral when CF-1 was rolled out (last year). Then of course there is the defect of rework needed in the carrier design because it isn’t strong enough for carrier ops. Whoops! All in all, a 5th generation failure.
The Navy and Marines planned buy remains 680 JSFs, Manazir said. How many of that total will ultimately be the carrier version F-35C or the Marine’s short take-off and landing version F-35B, remains a topic of discussion between the two services.
Really? Ever hear of Nunn-McCurdy and the procurement death spiral? You will be lucky to see a third of that before Operation: PONZI SCHEME crashes under its own weight. That and 41 cents of every dollar in the Fed budget is borrowed money.
On the much discussed Navy tactical strike fighter shortfall, Manazir said the worst case projections see the shortfall sitting at about 177 aircraft peaking in 2017. By tweaking “mitigation levers” — which includes how long older versions of the F-18 continue to fly, the delivery rate of new Super Hornets, how soon F-35s can begin to roll off the production line in large numbers and the demand from combatant commanders for carrier strike – that shortfall can be reduced to about 100 aircraft.
He had to say that didn’t he? Did anyone expect him to say any different? That is what Gates said a few weeks ago.
The current demand for F/A-18A-D flying off carriers in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan is “what is really stressing us right now,” he said. “If that demand signal was to decrease at some point then it would mitigate some of that shortfall.”
Which a Super Hornet is good enough until the Navy ever comes up with a real carrier aircraft. It is about the safest to fly in a carrier environ. And… well there is that thing about putting one engine back to idle or shutting it down….including the ability to do a one-engine trap. When we start dumping Joint Strike Failures into the water….Well lets be serious… if it ever gets that far.
The Navy’s projections of a strike fighter shortfall are based on models that assume the Navy will continue flying carrier missions in support of counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan at current levels, Manazir said.
Not really. In order to keep Team America: World Police running you need the current carrier schedule; no less.; Even after Operation: USELESS DIRT 1 and 2 are made obsolete because there isn’t much money. If anything, it will depend on if we start parking carrier groups because of lack of O&S money from buying $15B flat tops, $4B dreadnoughts labeled “destroyers” and so on. The graft of those big grey floaty things is large. Rocko and Moose (the ship building industry) expect their fief every year and don’t like envelopes that are light.
Asked if the expected drawdown in U.S. forces from Iraq, and thus reduced flight hours for carrier aviation in the Central Command area, could erase that shortfall, he said that any change in the “demand signal” would change that shortfall number. “I can’t predict that it will drop,” he said.
But he can predict that the F-35C will work. What a guy.
Asked if he would rule out buying more Super Hornets to reduce that projected shortfall, Manazir said right now the Navy is focused on extending the life of the “legacy fleet” of F/A-18A-Ds.
Which is a tough sell at $25m per re-barrel for not much ROI. 8 plane squadrons? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Ultimately, though, the Navy really wants a 5th generation strike fighter and is counting on the F35C.
But it really doesn’t qualify as 5gen as it just has some export friendly stealth and the rest of the stuff can be put in a 4th gen. Fraud by trick or device.
The Navy has expanded the capabilities of the Super Hornet to about “4.2-ish” generation capability, Manazir said, which is the limit of how much it can be upgraded. While some 5th generation low observable features are built into the Super Hornet, the fact that its weapons hang-off the wings, it cannot internally store weapons, means it has upper limits of stealthiness.
When you compare all the features of the F-35 and Super, the Super beats its because of any number of reasons that the F-35 has not proven including having no trap, or cat shot and no go-to-war systems to compare and no known price.
“The F-35Cs sensor fusion, data fusion and the stealth characteristics… allow it to get in there on day one of an anti-access denial kind of a fight,” Manazir said.
Keep dreaming. That is the job of the F-22 and it was always meant to be that way.
The Navy plans to operate the JSF and Super Hornet in combination, covered by an E-18G in a jamming role, to maximize the abilities of both aircraft. While functioning as a stealthy strike aircraft able to penetrate enemy air defenses the F-35C will also operate as a communications “node” on the Navy’s battle network, providing and transporting data to other ships and aircraft.
More marketing hype including the fact that the diet-coke of jammers, the Growler/Grizzly has mostly yesterdays jamming gear. Good if you want to refight ALLIED FORCE over 10 years ago.
Knock off the network crap too. Anything can be networked these days.
The Navy’s long-range aircraft force structure requirements are based on the current fight, that is Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a heavier fight against a “near-peer competitor,” he said.
Looks like you are out of luck with your roadmap buddy if you think the current plan is anything more than a plan to field the Brewster Buffalo as a prime weapon system. Obsolete by the time it reaches the fleet (if ever). If the glove don’t fit, you gotta acquit.
The first flight of the F-35C is planned for some time in the next couple of weeks and the aircraft’s initial operational capability remains 2016, Manazir said. “It should be in [Patuxent River] by the end of the summer and actively participating in flight tests.”
:::yawn::: The age of where the Littoral Combat Ship is deemed worthy. A corvette with the price tag of a destroyer. No different in the quality of thinking here. Raise your hand if you know what the Navy originally figured the LCS would cost. Would you buy a used car from this guy?
“We continue to closely observe and interact with the contractor Lockheed Martin, and tell them what our requirements are.” Those requirements have not changed, he said. The Navy plans to field ten F-35C in the first squadron.
Well, it may not matter much because this guy will be retired and on to another job if and when that happens, and the gullible taxpayer will be left holding the bag. Global force for good indeed.
Sign In
