Forum: Program and politics

IDK, I've seem plenty of aspersions cast about on this forum about the various critics of the F-35 program. It's only fair to consider the motivations of persons in leadership positions, opinion leaders, or other persons who may have an interest - financial or otherwise - in the program, whether they be supporters or critics. Not doing so, in my judgement, is a bit naive.

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Are we children here? To go on and on about it is just silly. ForFsake. Thanks. For example every time we see a post from/about the 'Lexington Institute' we get a homily about how it is funded by LM. Wowee. And then 'SLDinfo' and then etc. etc. Do we get similar homilies about Boeing funded shitholes? Whatever.

spazsinbad wrote:

Are we children here? To go on and on about it is just silly. ForFsake. Thanks. For example every time we see a post from/about the 'Lexington Institute' we get a homily about how it is funded by LM. Wowee. And then 'SLDinfo' and then etc. etc. Do we get similar homilies about Boeing funded shitholes? Whatever.

As you say it's childish and is better suited to conspiracy forums which abound on the net. It contributes nothing to the discussion and and lowers the bar in terms of quality debate on F-16.net. The Kopps, Goons, Spreys, etc. arguments are openly dissected and debated ad nauseam and it's fair to say that in the eyes of the defense establisments and industry professionals they are more of a nuisance than anything else.
Attempts to steer the debate towards cynicism are best ignored.

Marine commandant not up to speed on F-35 costs
Bob Cox | Sky Talk blog

"There was an amazing exchange in the Senate today when the Marine Corps commandant conceded he could not give Sen. John McCain a rough estimate of cost overruns on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, according to InsideDefense.Com (pay-per-view)."

From Inside Defense reporter Jason Sherman:

""For the record, you don't know how much the cost overrun has been for the F-35?" McCain asked Amos in response to the general's assertion that he "could not comment" on the senator's observation that the program has accumulated $150 billion in cost growth.

"Not precisely," said Amos.

"Roughly?" McCain parried. "Do you know roughly what the cost overrun has been?"

"Sir, I'm assuming," Amos said, before shifting thoughts and directly answering: "No, I don't."

McCain, in response, called Amos' reply "remarkable.""

Read more here: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk ... rylink=cpy

SMACKdown for the commandante. OOooohhhh. "Not precisely" eh.

Political kabuki reported by the hand puppet known as Jason Sherman.

The generic question is asked often by smug Oz reporters of politicians: "How much is a pint of milk or a dozen eggs etc." and if the politician does not have a clue then that is the headline for the day. Wowee. Especially asked for the nightly put down on TV news for the five second grab.

Forum: Program and politics

SASC: Pentagon move on F-35B model premature