Im interested to see what impact Obama's election has on current and pending USAF projects.

JSF
C-17
F-22

and of cource the KC-45 project

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For myself I think that future buys of all of these projects will depend on the strength of the respective states congressional delegations.

But:

JSF will soilder on
F-22 further buys in the Obama admin are dead
C-17 this one may get a few more buys

Also Im pretty sure an Obama win seals the deal on the tanker contract for Boeing.

What say you.


[edit on 11/5/08 by FredT]

I think you may be right about the JSF and tanker. We need at least a few f-22s to keep up with the su-47.

just outta curiosity i was doing some reading up on the JSF because were supposed to be purchasing them down here also when i read a odd statement

Dr. Nelson continued to endorse Australia's purchase of the F-35. Speaking on Australian television in March 2007, Dr. Nelson stated that 5% of the capability of the F-35 is classified, claiming that, "that's the five percent that really counts."

does anyone know or suspect what the classified capabilities are of the JSF ?

from what ive read they are an awsome peice of machinery and with it being a combined project with many different countries involved it would be unlikley it would be discontinued.

i think Aus picked the F-35 lightning because the US wouldnt let us have the Raptor

spoil sports

[edit on 5-11-2008 by Demandred]

With Obama in, I think the V-22 will be cancelled (or the number of units will be minimal).

After all, soon he will be looking from all sort of sources to pay for his promises "freeby".

He's already said he would cut our military by 25%. So, yeah, I think we'll be flying what we have right now for another 20 years. Cannibalization programs will be prolific!

Democrats in control of everything is never good for our military programs.

[edit on 6-11-2008 by CreeWolf]

With him keeping Bob Gates, and the whole civilian cabal under him, in office I only foresee more disastrous news for our strategic asset acquisition programs. The only bright spot is Congress, they have been relenting in demanding more F-22 purchases and keeping the C-17 line open.

Originally posted by FredT


Also Im pretty sure an Obama win seals the deal on the tanker contract for Boeing.

I actually think the entire tanker replacement program is dead for the next 4 - 10 years, I don't think there will be an RFP put out in the for-seeable future.

EADS/NG will get paid compensation for the contract awarded, and that will be that - the USAF will not get the funding for any large scale new projects in the next two terms (quite simply, how can they? The US economy is shot to hell, and the government now has a massive debt to pay off).

The JSF will soldier on, but its purchase will be extended and less bought per year.

The F-22 will see no more purchases.

The C-17 will not see any more purchases and the line will close.

The next small transport aircraft will be an 'off hte shelf' battle between the C-130J and the A400M, but you wont see more than 100 frames on the table.

A lot of you guys (Americans) have to realise - your economy is F***** with a capital F.

Spending has to be cut. Cutting out white elephants is not a bad way to go about it.

Taxes will also probably have to rise, all just to pay off the debts that clown Bush has run up.

Obama will need to be a miracle worker to sort out the mess.



If your military capability was reduced, it might mean you pay more than lip service to actually talking about problems with your adversaries, rather than threatening them with air strikes, invasions or cruise missiles. No doubt that will lead to increased goodwill towards the US, rather than the rest of the world being pissed at them taking unilateral action.

Well.... Keeping in mind that Obama will keep Robert Gates as secretary of defense, situation may be very similar as under Bush (about research and development, not use of the aircraft). And about the proposed cut in defense spending (i never heard of that, but never mind): isn't it good to cut spending on defense and give that money to other ministers which NEED more money. A doubt that research will suffer a lot with defense spending, but quantities of aircraft will. And I don't care, because research is important, use of those machines is just killing.
Furthermore, I think air force will suffer much less than other parts of armed forces under Obama. His strategy is to avoid wars and opened conflicts, but to make interventions with special ops in places where U.S. has interests. Since such interventions must be quick, he will probably most often use aircraft.

About those aircraft you mentioned.

F-22 is dead, but an aircraft like F-22 is useless in today's world. It was designed for cold war, but for today's use it's way to expensive. It was developed and now just don't spend more money on it!!!

F-35 program will proceed as planed, since such aircraft are useful for interventions from carriers. Maybe the quantity of CTOL version will be smaller.

And V-22 will not suffer. It's the only aircraft the U.S. has for special ops infiltration, so the number will eventually even rise, not fall.

MHO

Greets

We can all be fairly sure that spending is going to have to decrease what with the US economy and its problems.

Personally I think the V-22 is going to be alright. US Navy and Army will both cry for it, and it seems to be doing well in service. Besides, if it were pulled what would succeed the current helicopters in use? Nah, it seems to be that the V-22 should be alright. The biggest complaints people seem to have with it was the development cost (shouldn't have a huge effect now that it's about purchasing the aircraft itself) and the loss of life during development (which shouldn't happen anymore).

F-22, IMHO, is done. Unless something huge comes along, the F-22 will maintain current purchased numbers. Further purchases aren't feasible considering the economy and price tag with each of these. For now, it will likely act as a force multiplier for remaining 4th-Generation (F-15/F-16 for some time, and maybe F-18 Hornets and Rhinos should that be needed) and future 5th Generation (F-35) which is probably the best use for it. You can't really create an entire air force of superfighters because there are associated costs for which there just isn't enough budget.

F-35 should be okay... Mostly. In particular I'm thinking F-35 A and B variants because they have sale potential. This will actually help the US economy rather than hurt it with expenditures, so I have little doubt that these will keep right on trucking. The little beef on my plate right now, however, is with F-35C. The variant will only be used by the USN, and thus has no sale potential. While this is cool, I think the F-35C is unnecessary. For carrier-based operations a mixture of F-35B and F-18E/Fs should be just great, since you have stealth should you need it and a good conventional force otherwise. The F-35C is going to cause unnecessary expenditure when its job could be done by things you've already got (or things you'll have soon, in F-35B's case). Of particular note is that this part of the program is relatively young compared to the rest of it, and prototypes are not yet complete. This makes it a juicy target to axe before it gets expensive, and the new administration might make it happen. Now this is all speculation. I have nothing to back this up. But it's just something bouncing around in my brain.

I think the current course for the F-22 will be maintained. The JSF, on the other hand, is in jeopardy, I think. I derive that opinion based on what happened with the Comanche. Perfectly viable and effective stealth helicopter, just killed. I think that Obama will increase funding for R&D on unmanned war machines, whether it's a flying machine, or not. He'll also continue the development of special warfare units. One can never have too many SEALs.

Originally posted by FredT

Ive said it one Ill say it again the US should allow the F-22 to be sold to Australia and the UK. The F-22 would be perfect for Aus.

The UK have never stated they would like the F22. The UK have their own solutions and would not but buy if offered.

The next major UK fighter (after F35 and Typhoon) with be unmanned and we can see progress on that front by some of the major nations.

Cheers

I actually think most current (non-Black) aircraft projects are relatively safe.

Where I'd most like to see military cuts would be our ridiculous surplus of overseas bases and deployments.

We need to dismantle the "Evil Empire" and get the US military back in the business of defending the US.

But the fact is, we need to cut military expenditures by at least 25% if we want to remain solvent.

Ruling the world is a dumb idea to begin with, and we can't afford it anyway

Last night in his speech Obama talked about cutting cold war legacy programs. Read intot hat what you will but I think it spells doom for the F-22

I think he meant the Zumwalt DDG's, actually.

F-22 is already in squadron service, and the F-15C's are falling apart in midair.
Despite Barney Frank's wishes, it's not likely that it's going anywhere.

Production beyond the currently planned 187 airframes is unlikely, but that was true in any case: we're broke.