Forum: F-35 Lightning II

h-bomb wrote:

Where to begin?

EOTS: But do you need IRST function on the early block birds? This can be added with a software update.

HMD: No HUD makes sense...

Radar: Do you have to have every single function and mode on day 1 of flight school?

RwR: Yes but missions are years away, need to train the pilots first. The initial blocks can have this software completed later.

EODAS: Too critical?? My god how did the USAF survive the first 50 years without it!

Datalinks: Really? Ask the F-22 guys about this, the A-10a's, or the other aircraft we have with no link 16. I guess they cannot do anything.

Where to begin?

-The EOTS/EODAS/Radar/RWR/Datalinks, aren't what is holding up the IOC.
-considering that the F-35 from day 1 is supposed to have full strike capabilities, deleting EOTS/EODAS would be a major reduction in functionality.
-the radar won't have all modes from day 1.
-without stealthy datalinks, the whole point of being a VLO platform becomes moot

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Alloy: I’ve enjoyed reading your posts on here but Kaminski deserves more than the epithet, “some former Pentagon bureaucrat.” I didn’t know him back in his zoo days (I wasn’t even born yet!), but I did get to know him as a “bureaucrat” and found him more than competent enough to discharge his duties as USD-AT. He had a very good reputation in the business. Kaminski was in office during some of the incredibly lean Clinton years and was one of the key players (along with George Muellner) in the evolution of JAST, AF/X, MRF into the JSF program. Some consider him the "father" of the JSF program and indeed, he was right in the thick of it, signing off on the X-32 and X-35 Concept Demonstrator Aircraft.

Strictly speaking, I do not think he is back seat driving. He’s earned to right to have an opinion. This is his baby going down the tubes. The JSF, as he envisioned it, was to be a showcase of the Pentagon’s post-Cold War defense procurement reforms. Besides, as far back as I can remember, he has always backed the block upgrade thing so this is nothing new.

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

F-35 - 'BLOCK' my Upgrade/Development