https://www.novosti.rs/planeta/svet/1244224/35-remont-stelt-avioni
NOVI PROBLEMI ZA AMERIČKE NEVIDLJIVE F-35 LOVCE: Remont sistema za hlađenje koštaće čak 38 milijardi dolara
The F-35 Lightning's Vulnerability To Lightning Is Both Ironic And Unforgivable
That the F-35 Lightning II has been prohibited from flying anywhere near lightning is ironic. That the F-35 has been under development since 1994 and that the Pentagon “doesn’t have a path forward” to fix the F-35 is unforgivable.
That a plane that’s supposed to be the foundation of American air supremacy has an Achilles heel so easily exploitable is a glaring example of how our military procurement system wastes taxpayer dollars while failing to provide the weapon systems needed to meet our national security needs.
Yes, the F-35, the aging “wunder plane” that the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin have been assuring us for decades is just that one fix away from being ready for
full-rate production, isn’t allowed to fly within 25 miles of a thunderstorm.
So far, the indefinite restriction has been publicly announced as applying “only” to the Air Force’s F-35A. But given the F-35 Joint Program Office’s history of
hiding and “managing” bad news, it would not be at all surprising to find out that the same restrictions are in place for the Marines’ F-35B and the Navy’s F-35C, but have not yet been made public. That having this unpublicized policy in place could make sense was demonstrated in July 2021 when two F-35Bs flying out of their airbase in Japan
were forced to execute emergency landings after they both suffered millions of dollars worth of lightning damage in the same storm.
This restriction is even more crippling than the F35’s
restrictions on supersonic flight, as not being able to fly within 25 miles of potential lightning activity will allow an enemy to use lightning proximity as cover for air, ground, and sea operations knowing that the F-35s will not be flying overwatch or be able to be scrambled to areas where lightning threatens them. That this is the plane that’s slated to be the replacement for F-16s, A-10s, AV-8B Harriers, F/A-18E Hornets, and F/A-18F Super Hornets is a decision that needs to be re-evaluated.
Read more:
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/...bility-lightning-both-ironic-and-unforgivable
Cost over-run trillion dollars plus F-35 which is not so affectionately known by pilots as the “Flying Turkey” aka, a “hangar queen”. Overpriced junk
