We? You weren’t even born at those times, don’t even try to earn any credits for it..

Let me make it more relevent..

We should have let Sadam Husein take over Kuwait, Saudia Arabia, and the rest of the peninsula.

http://www.defensenews.com/articles/lockheed-ceo-f-35a-price-to-drop-below-100m-in-next-contract

fruition at last, if this includes engine, there’s no point in EF/rafale/F-18

Depends on what’s included.

If it’s RecFlyaway, then it’s already under $100mil.

If it’s full Flyaway, then maybe.

If it’s full Weapons System Cost (ie Flyaway + initial support, tools, parts, non-recurring items, etc) then NWIH it’s under $100mil in LRIP 10.)

For contextal sake, the often claimed $85mil has always referenced the Flyaway price.

All this debate about the engine face makes little sense.. There’s obviously more to it than just hidden/not hidden..
If Boeing/Grumman, after having designed B-2A or BoP, and Sukhoi, after having evaluated S.47, still make a stealth design with engine blades visible, then it has to mean something..

There is one part of the equation that nobody has public access to that makes all the difference.. What is the spec?

Panel: Trump Comments on F-18, F-35 Could Foreshadow New Defense Priorities

https://news.usni.org/2017/01/23/panel-trump-comments-f-18-f-35

Speaking of which, here’s a thought to help Boeing, provide a pivot to ISIS (or terrorism in general), and reduce costs in the process.

Buy the OV-10X from Boeing.

Take their OV-10X proposal and update it with the 4-bladed prop of the OV-10G+ which should get their “normal service ceiling” above the 30,000ft level.

With the advent of cheap PGMs like APKWS and guided cannon shells, it’s a no brainier. You can even slap on DIRCM pods for high threat situations.

They are already grasping with the introduction of the SH as it seems: recently it surfaced that they might be somewhat short of pilots. So hurrying the 35 in might not be something clever.

The F-35 are replacing classic Hornets in Australia so they will transition those pilots to the F-35, no shortage.

Can we not post “news” (aka Click-Bait) from National Interest in the “News Section” please?

It’s hardly ever “news” and always involves more opinion than fact.

Do please share this “official report”.

Per the latest DOT&E report

Air tracks often split erroneously or multiple false tracks on a single target are created when all sensors contribute to the fusion solution. The workaround during early developmental testing was to turn off some of the sensors to ensure multiple tracks did not form, which is unacceptable for combat and violates the basic principle of fusing contributions from multiple sensors into an accurate track and clear display to gain situational awareness and to identify and engage enemy targets.

Note the “early development” language which leads me to believe it’s not a huge problem anymore.

Identical situations were reported in the past with ..

Same with Block 3i.

When they introduced new hardware (Tech Refresh 2) the timing of the sensor feeds was a little off and caused problems with Block 3i which would delay USAF IOC if not fixed. They went through several QRC (Quick Reaction Cycle) patches and fixed the issue.

Now that they are adding more F-35s to the MADL network (up to 25) and adding more sensors/modes to the fusion engine, the timing is again an issue. This will require more tweaking, testing, and eventual QRCs.