Although a rather dumb thing to do, however come to think of it, if delays are being incurred, then the cost of those delays are also being spread all around. The US is also paying for having its jets sitting for longer then planned (before they reach operational status), although not in the form of DIRECT PARKING FEES, the US does also pay those extra costs (its their own bases, so they take in the increased cost of the delay w/o it showing up as FEES) , so that has to be paid by someone. One of those 3 parties, LMA, the Dutch, The US, has to pay these costs…Although it sounds like (from the tone of the article) Lockheed has put parking meters next to Dutch F-35’s , however these are nothing but housing charges for the extra time these jets will be spending (imho)

Agree but only partly, the very company responsible for delays should be charged.

Another reading about GAO report

GAO: F-35 Program Improving But Still at ‘Financial Risk’

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130311/DEFREG02/303110018/GAO-F-35-Program-Improving-Still-8216-Financial-Risk-8217-?odyssey=tab

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), in a new report on the fifth-generation fighter released Monday, said the program has achieved seven of the 10 “key management objectives” that were set for 2012. But the program is now entering a new phase of rising costs, at the same time that budgets are expected to drop across DoD.

“Just over 11 percent of development contract performance specifications have been verified as met and the development flight test program has cumulatively accomplished just over one-third of the rest points and test flights planned,” according to GAO.

…

Dutch to pay parking fees?

To take with a pinch of salt as site seem oriented, but i’ve also seen the info in a magazine

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/142648/dutch-to-pay-f_35-%E2%80%98parking-fees%E2%80%99-until-2015.html

I just gave him the link.

Was the report about parking fees charged to Nethelands posted? Cant remember.

My personal opinion is that the IR channel has been mis managed since the bigining. It was a mistake to order it from Sagem when all the other sensors of the Rafale were engineered and develloped by Thales. The result is that the final integration of the IR channel has been more difficult and probably not as good as it could has been.

Recently, Sofradir, Thales IR activities aswell as Sagem IR activities were fused, werent they?

A bit off topic, only related to previous posts about MMI.
A nice site about Rafale, MMI page

http://rafalefan.e-monsite.com/pages/dossier-rafale-avionique/genese.html

Isn’t Samsung doing the MMI stuff for KF-X? Maybe that is how they plan to fast-track the program: introducing the Samsung Galaxy Cockpit! :p

Look at a rafale pilot, you will see a Tab2 on his right leg 😀

Let me quote a former F18 operator “Goldie”(private mail source, can’t quote it)

I was a Navigator in the Navy and not a pilot so while I have about 100 flight hours in the Hornet, my perspective is not the same as a pilot’s. I was in the back seat the whole time.

But here’s what I can offer from my view as well as what I’ve heard some pilot’s say.

It is by far the easiest airplane they’ve ever flown. Not because it’s new. But because it was partially designed by other pilots and not just engineers. This was one of the first airplanes to incorporate “Human Factors Engineering” in the cockpit design to help minimize the workload of the pilot and make him/her more mission effective.