where JSF stands is that they have 8-9 F35 A already ready to have the military train on. That training is being requested to be delayed by 9months because they want more hours of testing to be completed ( I think over 1000 hrs has been completed). What is also almost done is F35B and should be ready to rollout in under 12 months to obtain flight clearence.
I'm not sure where you get High Tech Indian jobs would go to US . They have not even discussed those details in the offer. The indians are going to go Russia on Pak- Fa - they aint flying it here to have indians work on it. once it is production ready - sure ask the US that Indian aircrfats should be permitted to be built here in some measure.
That article you posted is pure speculation given the across the board cuts on the table going through within the US congress- but it won't happen I guarnatee you. US congress avoid military cuts
it is also F35 B specific and not the program itself.
I see PAK-FA having delays, cost over runs, enormous time to realization , supply chain issues and typical higher maintainence with Russain products- I see advantage of F 35, only if you get reasonable TOT, like other NATO countries would - a quicker induction of a fifth gen aircraft, higher quality, more skin in the game to keep adding advances to it ( all countries involved financially), a better EW package, a superb supply chain in place and lower maintainence cost -which cost you less on per aircraft over its lifetime. I also see US ( since the artcile I posted ) doing co-development with India on vital improvements almost similar to what PAK-FA has India play...
The commitment to PAK FA is what in terms of dollars now? was it not like 256 million dollars only so far? If that commitment is more i.e cash given to them- then you have a vaild point / hurdle for not dropping PAK-FA. but if its a commitment not executed in terms of dollars , you can drop it.
100 million dollar question is: will India have the galls to tell russia- enough with the shoddy products, low QA and delayed supplies and hikes in prices..
I'm still struggling to understand how you arrive at that assesment of the F-35 vis-a-vis the PAK FA.
My contention is this, that the JSF program has been almost unique as compared to other US military programs in terms of its delays, cost overruns; and technical, design and contractual problems. Problems that we don't need exported to India.
More hours of testing is not the only reason training has been requested to be delayed by 9 months. Vision Systems International, the maker of JSF's HMD, has just announced it's inability to get it right. And BAE Sytems has been awarded the contract for a whole new one. This is an integral component of any 5-gen fighter.
And that angle going around about the JSF's cost-estimates being based on pre-production estimates is also bull. Boeing's initial cost estimates in Fiscal 2001 dollars were $70-75 million a piece. These were production-line cost estimates based on consolidated participating country Air Force requirements. Remember these are 2001 dollars. The JSF program is now more than 5 years behind schedule and 60% above cost, with compounding software difficulties ensuring that there is no end in sight. Even if you take a conservative, non-inflated estimate of 60% cost overrun, the cost per fighter approximates $120 million at this stage. Not something we can afford.
And to think only Russian platforms have delays, overruns and technical problems is fatuous. Want proof? This is one example from Aviation Week. Read the rest of the article too.
:-
"A senior Royal Australian Air Force officer with insight into the Boeing/Northrop Grumman Wedgetail aircraft, summed up the dilemma of foreign purchasers: "It's great kit and just what we needed, but it would have been so helpful and caused us so much less pain [with the government] if we had been told up front how big that radar was going to be [3.5 tons], how long it actually was going to take [five years over schedule] and how much it was actually going to cost [more than $4 billion]."
JSF Cost Predictions Rattle Foreign Customers | AVIATION WEEK
If we do buy the JSF, it will be for the Navy only. And it will be in numbers much smaller than 72, permitting two squadrons at the most. That will not be a number that sees any feasible Indian
program participation.
That is the first reason. The second reason why the JSF could not see any Indian program participation, is because it is already heavily commited to and invested in the PAK-FA program. The $ millions aside, and the contractual commitment to a
minimum total of $5.1 billion, we simply do not have the resources to be working on two 5-gen fighter aircraft of the same class and ASRs simultaneously.
I'm not sure where you get High Tech Indian jobs would go to US . They have not even discussed those details in the offer. The indians are going to go Russia on Pak- Fa - they aint flying it here to have indians work on it. once it is production ready - sure ask the US that Indian aircrfats should be permitted to be built here in some measure
They (by which I mean Robert Scher, Departmet of Defense Secretary for South and Southeast Asia, a Pentagon report and Lockheed Martin's Vice President for Business Development, Rob Weiss) are talking about outsourcing assembly functions to India in the event it becomes a program partner, primarily to reduce costs- a secondary reason for roping in India, after its funding. Won't that see the outsourcing of "high-tech American jobs" or the transfer of technology. And India is not going to be a partner in the JSF program, unless it has a significant requirement for the fighter, which it will not.
That article you posted is pure speculation given the across the board cuts on the table going through within the US congress- but it won't happen I guarnatee you. US congress avoid military cuts it is also F35 B specific and not the program itself.
Pure speculation. Funny. Military cuts are inevitable, and long-term programs will be the first to see the light-of-day.
where JSF stands is that they have 8-9 F35 A already ready to have the military train on. That training is being requested to be delayed by 9months because they want more hours of testing to be completed ( I think over 1000 hrs has been completed). What is also almost done is F35B and should be ready to rollout in under 12 months to obtain flight clearence.
Those are all testbeds. Just as the PAK FA has 4 or 6 prototypes. Not "trainers" of any sort. I don't know how much you know about testbed technology, but they cannot be used to "train" for anything until outstanding issues are resolved. Which are a plenty.
I see PAK-FA having delays, cost over runs, enormous time to realization , supply chain issues and typical higher maintainence with Russain products- ---
Funny, I see all of those problems in the JSF.
100 million dollar question is: will India have the galls to tell russia- enough with the shoddy products, low QA and delayed supplies and hikes in prices..
No, that is a 6 billion dollar question. The answer to which is a resounding No.
