Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Apology accepted.

(1) Corporate culture means different things to different people. Yes, there are differences certainly, and for the worse in my book. But my opinion isn't based on a fair comparison. All of my work since LM bought GDFW was off-site in Asia until retirement. I have lots of younger friends who still toil away there, and I don't hear much that's very encouraging. GD was a great place to work, with talented, dedicated pros at every level. LM has mostly shuffled aside those pros and installed LM people from other divisions, many of whom had little experience building modern airplanes. That was also a problem with the F-22 at Marietta. LM had no experience building modern airplanes. Many of the F-22 engineers were transferred from Fort Worth, and much of the engineering work was done in FW.

Be that as it may, there is still a lot of unjustified criticism of the F-35.

(2) Because the F-16 of the day was a very simple airplane, it sailed through development without any serious problems, as you know. There was nothing for the skeptics to attack. Was that an asset to the program? I don't think so, but it really made it a more pleasant work environment not to hear almost constant criticism in the press, some of it valid. The most difficult area was manufacturing, not because of complexity of the product, but for the need to setup three assembly lines and ten different versions in three different countries simultaneously.

One reason some in the AF were cool to the F-16 was the threat it posed to the precious F-15.

A closer comparison to the F-35 criticism environment was for the multi-service F-111. I don't know how much if any you know of those late '60s days, but to hear constant criticism, even from the local newspaper (as today) was depressing. That airplane admittedly had some severe problems, but to me the F-35 seems to be doing exceedingly well in meeting its performance goals. Granted, its development time and cost are exasperating, but that's nothing new. Criticism of its purchase and operating cost seem premature to me.

High Hopes for F-35 Training at Eglin: The Air Force is working to address concerns raised by Michael Gilmore, director of Operational Test and Evaluation, regarding the proper time to begin F-35 flight training at Eglin AFB, Fla., senior leaders told members of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces panel this week. Lt. Gen. Hawk Carlisle, USAF's Deputy Chief of Staff for operations, plans, and requirements, said he is hopeful that a "military flight" can be conducted "at some point in the not-too-distance future" at Eglin. He said the Air Force has presented additional information to Gilmore since he wrote his memo in late October to the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, outlining what he perceived to be "serious concerns." Carlisle said, "We have a very diligent and deliberate process to do military flight release and airworthiness certificates," though he acknowledged that process has not yet been completed. "Again, it is event driven and we are going through that process very deliberately, and we are addressing all of Dr. Gilmore's concerns."