@Ezco: You want to dismiss an entire fighter design for a simple oleo-strut problem and call that a cost-saving measure ? :applause:

I don’t put the SH in the same class as the 35. The F35C is the successor and thus has many additional capabilities that can’t be fielded/achieved by an older iteration on a cost-effective way (if achievable). This includes also design and production cost reduction methods. You’ve yourself insisted for example on the low upgrade cost potential numerous times.

it has been a two step approach and they have been successful. In term of cost, the SH, a naval aircraft, achieves mission capabilities at a lower acquisition cost than its rivals (naval and ground based), something that can’t be left unnoticed.
I can think only of the Phantom for similar achievements.

If it does, they can still move them from Fort Worth down to the Mexican border and plant them in tight ranks as wall panels… Probably that new administration will then order more?

A-10s get upgrades to enhance search and rescue

A new recovery system has been installed on 19 A-10C Thunderbolts assigned to Davis-Monthan and Moody Air Force bases in the United States in the past three months, the Air Force said in a statement Friday.
[…]
LARS V-12 […] is designed to allow A-10 pilots to better communicate with downed pilots, pararescuemen and joint terminal attack controllers. It provides pilots with ground personnels’ GPS coordinates and enables them to communicate by voice or text, the Air Force said.

Source:
Stars&Stripes.com

In the meanwhile, the chain is doubling its production pace and preparing to triple… Good shot 😉

Yes preparing… Without that artificial snail-like production output financed for half a decade* by Fr taxpayers, there would be no glorious backlog to shake the rattle in the face of the press. A bit of modesty would have done it great Especially when political instability in the world could lead to the urgent phasing-out of prime non-stealth aircraft after a dramatic return of experience (weapon in anger – near peer)*.

So far, the doubling and tripling are only words in the mouth of Trappier. We have also Offset production with Reliance in India etc… All with 55 Falcon to build and 8/9/10 Raf a year… Let me guess, annual closure** will be also stretched to the point of being doubled or tripled as well?
:rolleyes:

*/complacent mode OFF
**Traditionally August

Sorry, I don’t do baby sitting.

Do you realize that 80% of engineer and scientists away from the F35 program around the world have still no idea of how this plane achieves its set of performances?
Many get even comforted in their Neo-Classicist view of Modern Engineering (the rococo epoch of modern aviation: super critical/tubular/canard and delta !). So, what the heck are you expecting from outsider of the program? Do you hear Northrop engineers weighting-on as critics?

Those days see the end of some glorious time (passive aero), So let’s wait and see what the guys at hand reach of that bottle of strange spirit will turn to be at the end. To me, they look so far joyful and ready to celebrate.

Don’t be the guy dismissing that bottle of fine Cognac arguing that he doesn’t recognize his daily shot of Gin! :very_drunk: *

*Written under only moderate influence and walking back home firmly…