hopsalotWe get it, you have a blog and want some traffic.
hopsalotI don’t expect.. they will do it.
The public doesn’t like spending too much on weapons, but they like even less the idea of depending on the americans (for different reasons that are OT here), what’s more, while they did not buy many rafales (the idea being to reduce annual costs but also to keep the line busy for as long as possible) the kept investing in research and development of new technologies around it…
Basically, the investment is there (maybe not as much as one would like, but it is there, unlike “some other aircraft” who had all the trouble in the world keeping its development running as different partners dragged their feet all the time )
This is just wishful thinking. Fighter programs are devilishly expensive and slow moving. If France were to get serious about developing a new aircraft today they would be lucky to have it available in the early 2030s… at a cost of several tens of billions of dollars in development alone. Such a program could only happen in the context of a completely different fiscal/security environment. The same applies to the rest of Europe. Even if several of the bigger players pooled their resources a new project wouldn’t come close to making sense.
hopsalotOh, I never said it was likely to happen, only that it would be the only sensible thing to do if one wants to have a relatively affordable fighter.. doing it as they want (choose a manufacturer without any competition and then, let do while pulling whatever production they can to themselves) is the perfect way to pay as much as if they developed it all alone, for a lesser product in the end..
When I see that proposal, I can only say that France is way better off staying alone… in the end it won’t cost them more, but they’ll have the product that really does suit their needs and they’ll have their industry work guaranteed
That is what France will say it is doing… but in reality what it will do is… not much. France hasn’t even been able to fund procurement of its previous fighter… it was buying only a handful per year before exports allowed them to cut even that. Now you expect them to undertake an entirely new program?
hopsalotEurope has the technology base to design a 5th generation fighter, but utterly lacks the political will to override the various national parochial interests.
You are never going to get a project off the ground if everyone wants to contribute 20% of the development funding, while getting 40% of the work share, and buying maybe 10% of the aircraft. (all while hording sensitive technology and protecting key national industries…)
To make matters worse, most of the major players are already struggling to support their 4th generation programs. Where is the money for an all-new program going to come from?
hopsalotIt is easy to write trash if all you want to do is stir outrage and generate clicks. From the author’s profile:
Dr. Michael P. Hughes joined the Francis Marion faculty in 2003. He teaches corporate finance, financial markets, real estate finance, and investments. His research is focused in the areas of market microstructure, financial markets, fixed income securities, government and defense finance, options and derivatives, investments, international finance, central banking, and financial econometrics. Dr. Hughes’ research has appeared in the Journal of Economics and Business, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Journal of Economics and Finance, International Advances in Economic Research, Journal of Business Case Studies, Journal of Case Research in Business and Economics, and Journal of Business Cases and Applications, and Strategic Management Cases.
Prior to his joining the ranks of academia, Dr. Hughes served over 21-years in the U.S. Air Force. During that time he spent over 14-years in nuclear treaty monitoring and related activities, while the initial 7-years were in the aircraft maintenance and engineering (propulsion) arena with F-4 and F-15 aircraft.
So basically his qualifications are that roughly 30 years ago he performed maintenance on fighter engines.
hopsalotRight. So when the French senate (& that’s the correct English word for Sénat) reviews the budget submitted by the president, & how public money is spent, it deliberately fudges the figures for the one area that you don’t want to believe, but in a way that anyone who reads its reports carefully will be able to spot.
Really? Do you know how that makes you sound? Especially when you won’t supply the information on which this claim is based, saying that the source is sensitive about his data – despite the numbers supposedly being in open, public, papers, freely available to anyone who has an internet connection & cares to read them.
Unless you supply the numbers, fully referenced, I call foul on this one. Total ********.
You missed the point…
hopsalotNo doubt about it… the drones are coming.
It will be very interesting to see how this reshapes air combat.
For one thing it will probably allow a lot more countries to get back into the air power game. Not only will UCAV airframes be cheaper to purchase, they won’t need to fly hundreds of hours a year just to maintain proficiency.
hopsalotI would like to buy that cameraman a lens cloth.
Also… a nice performance. Paris is in for a treat.
hopsalotlol hopsalot, way to overreact, it was only 2 weeks ago.
This is an aviation forum, not some stupid political board. Trump mentioned a couple of the Pentagon’s largest procurement programs in an address to the Coast Guard… big deal.
hopsalotUSNAvy, not µUSAF, cdunno where to place it.
U.S. Navy Green-Lights New And Improved Super Hornet
http://m.aviationweek.com/combat-aircraft/us-navy-green-lights-new-and-improved-super-hornet
They are still buying Super Hornets. They are going to be in the fleet for many years from now. Of course they are going to be upgraded.
hopsalotYou mean they may both end buying F-35?
You want them to buy last year’s model?
hopsalotDonald Trump tells Coast Guard He saved them money on the F-35
Why bring up an almost month old story that was pretty weak in the first place? Obviously the Coast Guard does not operate F-35s or aircraft carriers, but they are part of the US armed forces and in wartime can (and have been) subordinated to the US Navy.
hopsalotSo are you suggesting they turn on AB without noticing? Do you really thing the F-35 user interface is that crappy?
There are a couple plausible things he might have been referring to… either while accelerating in AB it is easy to push the plane supersonic without intending to, or perhaps if the F-35 is cruising at high subsonic and goes into a dive it can inadvertently go supersonic.
In either case it shows the F-35 doesn’t struggle to go supersonic.
hopsalotReally..
It means that NorAF pilots are used to fly F-16 which is mostly heavy(drag) laden with two wetbags and four AIM’s. They get the feel of F-35 increased subsonic acceleration right through the transonic regime.
But where do you get the “without” AB?
This is ooooold news. Been debated to death.
This doesn’t establish that the F-35 can go supersonic without afterburner, but it is yet another source that shows that it certainly has no trouble going supersonic. (unlike the claims of the various fanboys around here…)
All models of the F-16 are known for having strong acceleration. Obviously we can’t know exactly which one and which loadout he is comparing against, but the bottom line remains the same. If the F-35 is quick compared to a combat loaded F-16 then it is plenty quick period. (remember, we once had people here claiming that the F-35 wouldn’t be able to perform even air policing missions… )
With the F-35, I am missing speed. I am missing agility. I am missing maneuvrability. I am missing range. I am missing loiter times. I am missing extreme kinematics/acceleration throughout the WHOLE envelope not just from 0 to 200 mph. I am missing ability to enter or disengage a fight at will. I am missing an aircraft instead of an Airbus stuffed with blings.
Hell, it’s not even pretty… !!
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?120578-F35-debate-thread-enter-at-your-own-risk/page20
:very_drunk:
Read that, then read what the actual pilot had to say. Guess which one is clueless.
hopsalotNot keeping up with their program but wasn’t a new type ‘competition’ broken down into an urgent Super Hornet buy and a competition because as per the current Government, the previous one had neglected an urgent need for fighter recapitalization forcing the current one to pursue an urgent sole source F-18E/F purchase while drafting a more long term competition for the rest of the fleet? It seems that the current government has decided to neglect their air-force’s urgent need (of which the officials cannot speak since there is a lifetime gag order) and may pass on an unmet urgent need to the next government, just like they claim the previous one did with them. .
Yes, they suddenly decided that they had an urgent requirement that forced them to buy Super Hornets for delivery in the early 2020s. (rather than F-35s or literally any other fighter in production, all of which could have been delivered on the same timeline) It now appears they not longer perceive this urgent need… :confused:
The whole thing is just a big excuse to punt of course. An open, transparent, and most importantly -slow- competition will ensure they needn’t do anything at all for the foreseeable future while their existing fleet of jets ages out.
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