An Aircraft Engineers Assessment of the JSF (F-35) Problems

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Extremely long read, but it's stuff we need to see.

I think this assessment is kind of scary considering the United States future plans for air superiority. It looks like the airforce is having trouble creating the force they desire.

[edit on 25-2-2005 by Jahperson]

It seems like it was two people having a disagreement about it. Is it just me or was he talking about the scaled-down export version of the plane?

I haven't read the article buti always thought that the JSF hover fan system was too complex and intricate, for a main-stay non-niched fighter..

Kurt is an aircraft engineer and he is describing the issues with the JSF that include the idea that the JSF is not an able enough plane to deal with threats since there is such a low number of F/A-22s being developed. He is showing that the JSF isn't anything special that will be able to hold its own against other aircraft. Kurt sees this as a major problem because he assesses that with numbers of JSF vs. F/A-22 that the JSF will be in constant serious threat because it won't be able to hold its own on the battlefield and that the numbers of F/A-22s are too low to counter the problem.

Kurt also directly talks about how he believes the exportation of this plane is giving other countries a raw deal since it is a plane that won't survive when there is an air superiority threat. He argues the plane needs some more air superiority characteristics if it is going to be a survivor in a world with Sukoi's manuverability push and air superioty drive.

[edit on 25-2-2005 by Jahperson]

[edit on 25-2-2005 by Jahperson]

Daedalus says:

"I haven't read the article buti always thought that the JSF hover fan system was too complex and intricate, for a main-stay non-niched fighter..
"

But that's what the brits want, given their reliance on micro carriers; and they've always been a major player as far as the design is concerned, simply because they got on board as a partner for the JSF early on.

I haven't talked with anyone who's flown a JSF, although we had a couple of test article pilots come out and brief us (we're doing some weapons integration for Lockmart). I don't think anyone that I or my colleagues know has any hands on with a STOVL JSF, but I have spoken with several St. Louis guys on the AV-8B program and they all seem to think that the JSF is going to be a very easy plane to fly.

And if you haven't read the comments by "kurt plummer" on that site, do so. The guy is very obviously plugged into the business and not a "poser" like the authors of a lot of these posts you read.

Does anyone know enough about this stuff to translate it into English? lol

OK, IMHO, this plane is in serious trouble.

Too heavy still to use the fan system for V/TOL, not stealthy enough, tamper proof equals major high maintainance costs...cannot carry enough weapons to even defend itself...and this is supposed to replace the A-10 tank buster>???
you are having a laugh....this project is looking like the biggest white elephant in aviation history...

Too fat to fly, too weedy to fight.