Talks from the US Air Force (Air Force) about the need to create new light fighters are “tacit recognition” that the F-35 Lightning II aircraft program has failed, writes Forbes.
The American magazine notes that the F-35 Lightning II program resembles the F-111 Aardvark two-seater long-range tactical bomber. The publication reminds that work on the last aircraft was carried out more than half a century ago, and instead of the planned 1,700 units, the Pentagon purchased only 550.
The magazine writes that the actual cost of the F-111 Aardvark was five times higher than the design one. One of the main problems of this bomber in the publication is called versatility, which complicated the design and limited the possibilities of operating the aircraft.
“The F-35 certainly shares many of the qualities of the F-111. A single basic set of systems, packed in three generally identical airframes, must meet the requirements of the Air Force, the Navy (Navy) and the Marine Corps (ILC), not to mention foreign operators, ”the newspaper writes.
On the one hand, Forbes does not exclude that the Pentagon may allow the creation of a new fighter, and limit the production of the F-35 Lightning II. On the other hand, the publication admits that the program of the new aircraft may become as unsuccessful as the last project of the fifth generation fighter.
In February, the F-15EX Advanced Eagle took off for the first time, which, in particular, should complement the F-35 Lightning II in difficult missions.
In January, Christopher Miller, acting US Secretary of Defense, called the F-35 Lightning II program a piece of crap.
