[LINK] Joint Strike Fighter Senate Submission

[Tom Worthington]

On 16/02/16 09:23, Stephen Loosley wrote:

> Joint Strike Fighter Submission... David Archibald ... (snipped)
> http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/Joint_fighter/Submissions
>
> The F-35 has many deficiencies. ...

At least the software for the F-35 is mostly working, which is an
achievement.

> 3. The F-35’s operating cost in excess of US$50,000 per hour ...

Pilots do most of their training in simulators.

> 4. ... the F-35 is less manoeuvrable than fighter ...

Yes, the F-35 is not designed to "dogfight", but to shoot down its
opponents before being detected. There are problems with that strategy,
but that is the intention.

> 5. The F-35 uses its fuel for cooling its electronics (page 21)6.
> The aircraft won’t start if its fuel is too warm ...

Electronics work at the highest temperatures experienced in
Australia. A bigger problem is keeping the pilot cool while waiting to 
take off.

> 6. The F-35 has a logistics system that requires an internet
> connection to the United States ...

The F-35 comes with a pool of spare parts shared between customers. If
Australia wanted to, it could buy its own pile of parts, but that would
be very expensive.

> The F-35 was conceived more than 20 years ago, and the first flight
> took place 10 years ago. ...

Yes, that is how long it takes to build an military aircraft. The Sukhoi
Su-35 is derived from the S wellu-27 and the Saab Gripen E from the JAS 39
Gripen, both from the 1980s.

> Fortunately for Australia, another aircraft is now available ...

Australia purchased some F/A-18Es and Gs, which are based on an old
design and so by now work reasonably well. These should be suitable
for the five to ten years it takes to get the F-35 to work. The bigger
question is if aircraft with pilots will be obsolete before then.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
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Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science, College of
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