ah, ok, dynamo, so, let’s see, its range (ferrying, so that means, going strait ahead) is given to be 1200 nautical miles in internal fuel… what does that mean? that means simply that if you go 600 miles, fly for an hour in circles, you won’t even be close to coming back…

So maybe you should do the math, 600 miles one way, 600 miles back, that’s full range on internal fuel, and it just got there eventually fired a missile, turned around and headed for home.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/aeronautics/products/f35/A07-20536AF-35Broc.pdf

it’s LM who says so, so, did you get it now?

Nice try but the ‘1000 nm strike mission’, that is ‘radius of action’ which includes the range of the Scalp/Storm Shadow.

any link to prove that?

More on the increases in costs:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/04/06/2094443/cost-estimate-for-f-35-to-soar.html

So LM still claims that they will deliver… Interesting.

well, they try to save their jobs for the next 40 years… would you expect them to say something like:

“yeah, in reality you’ll pay over 400 billion for these aircraft, and that’s a conservative estimate”

as long as money keeps pouring in, they consider it’s ok, since, the more the “customers” are committed, the more they’ll be likely to end up buying, not to be considered to have wasted the money. What they say now is simply geared towards keeping their business running

these “theories” are more of a constatation, he said “we’ll buy the rafale”, then, ok, I’ll officially announce the winner in october, then it was a bit later, then, well, maybe a bit later, then again, in april,, then, end of may…

I don’t live in brasil, but from europe, what it looks like is like a guy who talks a lot and then is unable take a decision once for all… Lot of people laugh at chavez and his “big declarations” and lula’s image overhere is just looking more and more similar: talks and no acts

If the best contender won every time, the rafale would have made a couple of sales already… but such buy is always more political than about the aircraft itself…

in brasil it’s no different, it’s political. Thing is, the “politician” seems to be the only one that doesn’t “do his part”… letting everyone else do it. That delaying and further delaying gives only one image: Lula looks so unable to make a decision (whatever it may be) that it’s simply ridiculous.

Dassault did not want to bid in india at some point because they considered it a waste of time.. brasil seems to be something along that way too… a big waste of time

The evaluations exept the presidents own, have all pointed to gripen as no 1 ;).
The president seems not to have the right arguement for rafale at the moment thats why maybe?

well what happens in all other countries is:

military test the aircraft, politicians decide for reasons they decide (good or bad is beside the point, it’s not the best aircraft that wins every time, far from that)

military shut up and is happy with what they have

population learns they have a “great fantastic new aircraft which is the pride of their country”

now, in brasil, there were evaluations, then president said, for strategic reasons rafale is a better option (may he be right or wrong, it’s what he has declared) and yet, we get all the time claims, articles and whatnot claiming it should be another aircraft apparently backed by people who, either aren’t supposed to speak publically, like the military “in service” or definitely incompetent as far as fighter aircraft acquisition goes (metal workers, how expert are they in either fighters or strategic questions and international partnerships?)

Yet, the one guy who’s supposed to be “the leader” of the nation seems to be unable to say clearly: “I was elected to do a job, and as such, I decide to do this and that for this or that reason”

One has to wonder why sarkozy went to brasil to negotiate with him.. better to go and speak with anonymous people on copacabana.. they’ll then go speak in the press and the rafale may have been entered production already… 😀

Some people are comparing individual features of the F-35 and saying they could be better and may even be inferior to existing fighters. No-one seems to be comparing the total package.
Even assuming the F-35 is less agile than an F-16 (just as an example), when combined with the element of surprise imparted by its stealth capability, it will probably win every engagement. Other abilities which are conveniently forgotten are V/STOL capability and damage resistance of a bulkier structure.
The only problem with the platform is the constantly escalating cost, but this should have been foreseen for such a demanding requirement and specification.

considering “damage resistance”, a two engined fighter is definitely more damage resistant than a single engined one. One hit in one engine and the F-35 is down, while SH, typhoon or rafale keep on flying unless a critical part is damaged too (one engine failure not being critical as such for two engined aircraft)

about element of surprise, that still has to be seen… and nobody will be able to say anything but speculations in that area for as long as it won’t meet anything to fight against (even in exercise).

V/STOL is only one small part of the F-35 that should be produced.. not all will benefit from it, by far.

where you are right, on the other hand, is the escalating costs.. that’s no speculation, it’s real.. the speculation starts when someone tries to figure out how much more these costs will escalate…

actually, it looks to me that it’s the first time that in a country the ones who are supposed to make such a decision are the last to decide. usually, the military test, make a report and then politicians decide what is best in their opinion for their nation (officially at least) and that’s it. Here, everybody and his uncle in brasil seems suddenly to be an expert whose opinion must be taken into account for buying fighter planes…

Unique…