All aircraft have teething periods to iron out "bugs" Cost overruns are to be expected..especially for such advanced technology. No exceptions.

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All aircraft have teething periods to iron out "bugs" Cost overruns are to be expected..especially for such advanced technology. No exceptions.

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Mike is correct. The first Merlin P-51s suffered wing failures; USAF was loosing more F-4s to pilot error than combat in the mid-1960s, and something like 2/3 of the superb F-8 Crusader fleet suffered major (not necessarily total write-offs) accidents; F-15 was falling out the sky in the mid-1970s because of trouble with the F-100 engine; F-16 pilots had trouble with spatial disorientation; B-26 and F-104 were too advanced for the current training curriculum and started out with a horrible accident rate yet went on to be excellent systems.


But...

F-35 is a cutting-edge system with the potential to be and impressive aircraft if it is ever built. However, few aircraft ever live up to their hype. RAND published an analysis a year or so ago that basically stated that the last thing an F-35 pilot wanted to do was meet a Su-35 without a F-22 nearby.

The main problem with the F-35 is mismanagement. In the Fall of 2010 SecDef Gates almost killed it because of mismanagement. http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/24/fighter-gates-idUSN2415535120100324 A friend who is a naval officer aeronautical engineer, a literal rocket scientist, then explained to me the horrible job Lockheed-Martin and DoD have done with the program. They learned nothing from the McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II fiasco.

Add in the world's economy and political caprice. We need a F-35 but I honestly think it'll be killed.

Not to be a bummer...

Wow. Hope you are wrong about the kill. Lot of money down the drain.....

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Wow. Hope you are wrong about the kill. Lot of money down the drain.....

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Better to kill it before we send more good money after bad. There comes a time to cut your losses and run.

Whats the alternative?? Chinese and Russians have/are working along similar lines......

You are probably correct. Here is another "splendid" article:

www.military.com/features/0,15240,186349,00.html

Lockheed Martin seems keen to talk up the F-35's air combat skills to bolster its chances for new foreign military sales -- namely, to Japan, Turkey and Greece.

I hope the F35 works - or we've got two brand new carriers on the slips with no aircraft for them to operate...........unless we get the Harriers out of mothballs....

Dave it's a bit late for that, the MOD has sold all the GR.7 and 9's to the US marines, while the FA.2's are either in museums or have been disposed of.

Interesting that at the top of the page is a advertisment for the Eurofighter Typhoon....

What about the other way around? Which aircraft has ever been more late, over budget, less able to meet its design criteria and with an engine that had more troubles?

The F-35 is a nifty toy, but I'm concerned that it's a darling of the politicians who are determined to chase their sunk costs by beating more money into an already dead horse. The aircraft itself is a case of too far little bang for way too many bucks. We need a plan B in place. Yeah, it would be great if it could live up to Lockheed's hype, but I just can't see that happening anytime soon.

The F-35 with V/Stol capability, stealth, advanced tracking, weapons delivery, C4 capability, as well as Air to Air combat capability is a tremendously advanced technologically cutting edge weapons system.

the article I found states it is only slightly better than the F/A-18 in terms of performance.

As for politics: Of course! Billions of R&D as well as tons of political capital have gone into this aircraft.

The United States of America is a global superpower, with responibilities around the globe. For political as well as practical reasons we need this aircraft.

NATO and Canada probably can do without it...

It all boils down to progress: A famous Canadian stated: "Only a fool stands in the way of progress"

In 2011 The Economist warned that the F-35 was in danger of slipping into a "death spiral" where increasing per aircraft costs would lead to cuts in number of aircraft ordered which would lead to further cost increases and further order cuts

James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation has suggested that it would be cheaper to build additional F-35s with known defective structures and fix these later than it would be to refit legacy aircraft to remain operational until full production of F-35s with full lifespan rated structural components could be built.