Jim Scanlon (deceased)
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Dec 15, 2012 2:27:14 GMT 9
The below is from AFA Daily.
Notice who is now procuring weapons for the Candian Military.
Canada Backs Away from F-35: The Canadian government this week retreated from its commitment to procure the F-35 strike fighter, announcing that it is re-launching the search to replace its aged CF-18 Hornet fleet. The Royal Canadian Air Force requirements "that led to the selection of the F-35 will be set aside and not used as part of this new evaluation of options," stated Rona Ambrose, Canada's minister of public works and government services, in a Dec. 12 release. The Canadian government has taken this fighter procurement away from Canada's defense department and handed it to the public works agency after an unfavorable audit of the F-35's projected lifecycle costs in April. Though Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper has repeatedly underscored his government's commitment to the F-35, the fighter has long been a political target of his Liberal Party opposition. "Last April, we set out a Seven-Point Plan to hit the reset button on the process to replace the CF-18 aircraft," said Ambrose. Release of the plan's criteria this week permits "a full consideration of the options available," she added. Canada was an original partner in the F-35's development and planned to buy 65 of the strike fighters. The agency hasn't ruled out the F-35 entirely, but will consider options such as Boeing's F-18E/F Super Hornet, the Eurofighter Typhoon, or extending the service life of the legacy Hornets, reported Bloomberg on Dec. 13.
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Jan 21, 2013 14:12:17 GMT 9
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Post by LBer1568 on Jan 22, 2013 2:50:48 GMT 9
Having worked in USAF Procurement for almost 30 years I can say every new programs has it's share of burps. But the F-35 seems to have pukes instead of burps. As a contractor supporting WPAFB, I had several co-workers doing source selection on both F-35 and F-22. They both have suffered from major design flaws. But wait, we knew about they issues. Because of the demand by Politicians that they planes meet delivery dates (much delayed dates). So the issue with Oxygen at altitudes was the subject of a report from back in 2003 or somewhere near there. But Program Management (Brig General who made MGen from Program) decieded to press on and fix it as part of Development program, as opposed to Design Stage. So he rotated after his 3 years, another Gen came in and he was promoted for his strong program Management of F-22. Next guy finds out they have an Oxygen issue, blames it on his predecessor, finds fix and makes MGen before he moves on. Same thing on F-35. With a 10-20 year design, develop, and deploy lifecycle and 3 year assignments for Program Managers it's the same old cycle. Blame the previous guy, fix the problems, and get promoted as a great Program Manager. PS, they also have skeletons in closet for next guy to place blame and fix. So I actually amde a suggestion to Blue Star Program Management Problems. I recommended a 5 year rotation instead of teh standard 3 years. made sense to reduce turnover and place responsibility for longer period. It made it's way forward as strong fix for problem. Bud once it made it way to puzzle palace, it was immediatelly struck down as to limiting on our Senior Leaders. Without short Assignments they cannot get promoted as fast. So the Procurement Program Manager's stayed as Military, as opposed to Civilian, and our problem stays the same, just different people. AS far as Canadians dropping out, it just further reduces the number of planes forecasted to be built, which raises the cost. Every time you change Orders, teh Contractor get's well by re-bidding cost of remaining aircraft. Just like when AF determined we had to spread out Procurement time to be able to pay, the price went up and we pay more for delaying manufacturing. Our procurement process is so flawed by so many review cycles that we spend more time reporting our progress than we do working with Contractor to design and build. And forecast is to have more oversight by higher ranking Managers. So to make a quarterly Program Status to higher levels, the reporting process has to start before the reporting cycle to make it through all the lower level reviews and changes. But, the good news is, we don't use paper copies as much as we used to. Powerpoint and projector's save trees.
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Post by Jim on Jan 22, 2013 5:24:03 GMT 9
NEVER EVER AGAIN TO DUPLICATE THE P-51, F-80 AND U2 DESIGN TO FLIGHT TIMES........ The Old Sarge
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Post by dude on Jan 24, 2013 6:37:16 GMT 9
Appreciate your insight Lber and all you have to do is pull up just about any officer's bio to see that they put themselves on a 2-3 year promotion cycle. Longer than that and your DOA for your next grade. Not saying that's right, just saying that's why they wouldn't sign up to your 5 year suggestion.
As far as the F-35 is concerned, it's the only game in town. Those that drop out now are likely to pop back in downstream once USAF and LockMart come to terms on out year production prices
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Bullhunter
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Post by Bullhunter on Jan 24, 2013 9:26:44 GMT 9
I'm not a fan of this bird at all. It looks like its going to be a maintenance nightmare. If it folds and goes away I won't be sorry.
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Post by pat perry on Feb 23, 2013 11:09:52 GMT 9
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Post by LBer1568 on Feb 24, 2013 23:52:41 GMT 9
High performance engines have a history of failures. The F-15/F-15 used two engine manufacturers to encourage compitition and reduce costs. I worked in the F-100/F-110 SPO at Wright Patt for two years in Tech Data management. The F-16 entered service powered by the P&W F100 afterburningturbofan. Seeking a way to drive unit costs down, the USAF implemented the Alternative Fighter Engine (AFE) program in 1984, under which the engine contract would be awarded through competition. The GE F110 currently powers 86% of the USAF F-16C/Ds . GE had a rash of engine failures back in the early 1990's. The extreme heat was melting parts and they would clog up cooling vents in the fans and cause catostrafic failures. Being a single engine fighter the pilots were lucky if they ejected before fireball destroyed engine. After every failure, GE and AF would tear down engine and find fault. The problem was, the failure was progressive. As they fixed one area of damage, the issue would go further back in engine. It was bad times for GE as we had to ground fleet numerous times and wait on a "fix" from GE. Every engine in the "Block" of engines affected had to be boresighted and replace parts as necessary. I would not have liked being a Jet Mechanic back then. At the same time GE was relaxing teh original Specs for engine wear as more and more engines were found to have warantee parts out of specs. So GE would write and Engineering Change Proposal to relax the specs on wear. Then they could restock the parts which were worn beyond specs. It got so bad we recommended to management that GE produce one big list and we would approve it as a single change to Tech Data. I was processing as many as 100 TO changes a week during teh prime times. That was a Tech Order nightmare. Considering we also had to change all Foreign Military Sales country Tech Manuals as well.
Will the F-35 survive...yes, but it will go through the same bumps as most every other Fighter has over last 40 years. The F-16 probably has the most crashes and history of design issues of any fighter and it is still one of best fighters in World. F-15 had less problems, but also had less A/C and fewer versions than F-16.
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MOW
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Post by MOW on Feb 25, 2013 5:27:06 GMT 9
I was at Hill AFB in 1984 when the AFE program began and by the time I got to Kunsan in late 88' and started converting to C/D models we ended up with a mix of P&W F-100's the GE F-110's. The 110's were not popular for awhile.
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Aug 19, 2015 7:32:32 GMT 9
I got this post from M. Ross, with some comments by him below.
Very interesting film.
Jim too ------------------------------
M. Ross
"In fairness, the F-105 was designed as a nuclear rollback weapon, to carry a nuke to eliminate threats to the B-52s that would be carrying weapon loads to the deep Soviet and Chinese (and North Korean) bases.
The Thud was built to survive, and it did a fantastic job of that despite the Johnson administration telegraphing our targets to the NVN, the incredibly heavy defenses, and despite the extensive Rules of Engagement.
The Thunderchief was never intended to be an air-to-air superiority fighter, but the Vulcan gave it a deadly close-in attack capability. Through skill of our pilots (and ineptitude of NVN fighter pilots), Thuds got a respectable number of MIG gun kills."
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Post by Bullhunter on Aug 19, 2015 7:53:30 GMT 9
The F-35 is a piece of junk. It will sit on the ground broke most of the time. A maintenance nightmare!
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Post by Jim on Sept 5, 2015 11:52:38 GMT 9
> >> This is unbelievable! F-35 unintentional loop at takeoff, a real "check your laundry" event. A supremely well-trained US Navy pilot, ice running in his veins instead of blood, fully regains control of his $70 million, F-35 joint strike force fighter, after a problematic vertical take-off attempt... Watch as the rear vertical thruster fires to cause the problem. >> There's nothing about this that the pilot enjoys. If he could have ejected at 100' upside down and lived, he would have. Looks like the afterburner kicks in while still vectored for vertical takeoff. Lockheed would call thisa "software malfunction" and do a little more "regressive testing". This is a good demonstration of power-to-weight ratio of this aircraft! And talk about stability control... wow! >> If he didn't come out of the loop wings-level, it probably would have been bad news; maybe taking some of the carrier with him! Add to this flying through your own exhaust, which can lead to equipment malfunctions, as in"flame out". The F-35 is single engine aircraft with vertical takeoff/landing capability, but it has the aerodynamics of a Steinway piano at zero airspeed. This is the most unbelievable piece of flying you will ever see in your life. >> This guy's coolness saved a 70 million-dollar aircraft! On the other hand, he might not have had time to react to anything except just ride it. >> I bet you'll watch it at least 2 times! www.facebook.com/n/?photo.php&v=10150113735642761&aref=239476165&me
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
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Commander South Texas outpost of the County Sligo Squadron
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Retired: USAF NBA: Spurs NFL: Niners MLB: Giants NHL: Penguins
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Sept 5, 2015 12:35:47 GMT 9
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Post by Gene on Feb 4, 2016 3:05:24 GMT 9
A-10 Supporters in Hog Heaven
—Brian Everstine
The Pentagon has switched course and now plans to keep the A-10 fleet operational until 2022, when it will replace the aircraft with F-35s on a squadron-by-squadron basis, said Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday during a speech previewing the department's Fiscal 2017 budget request. The decision caves to congressional pressure to keep the aircraft flying, and abandons the Air Force's previous plan to replace A-10s with fourth generation aircraft, such as F-15s, or to convert A-10 squadrons to other aircraft, such as C-130s and KC-135s, until the F-35 comes online. Carter acknowledged the aircraft has been "devastating" ISIS as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria. It's also helped recently to deter further Russian aggression in Europe. Instead, he said, the budget will maintain more of the Air Force's fourth generation fighter and attack jets than previously planned so "we'll always have enough aircraft for today's conflicts." (See also: A Little to the Right… and Delaying Retirement?)
The Air Force deployed 12 A-10C Thunderbolt II attack aircraft from Moody AFB, Ga., to Incirlik AB, Turkey, in support of Operation Inherent Resolve on Oct. 15, 2015. Air Force photo by A1C Cory W. Bush.
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Post by pat perry on Feb 4, 2016 7:14:47 GMT 9
A-10 Supporters in Hog Heaven —Brian Everstine The Pentagon has switched course and now plans to keep the A-10 fleet operational until 2022, when it will replace the aircraft with F-35s on a squadron-by-squadron basis, said Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday during a speech previewing the department's Fiscal 2017 budget request. The decision caves to congressional pressure to keep the aircraft flying, and abandons the Air Force's previous plan to replace A-10s with fourth generation aircraft, such as F-15s, or to convert A-10 squadrons to other aircraft, such as C-130s and KC-135s, until the F-35 comes online. Carter acknowledged the aircraft has been "devastating" ISIS as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria. It's also helped recently to deter further Russian aggression in Europe. Instead, he said, the budget will maintain more of the Air Force's fourth generation fighter and attack jets than previously planned so "we'll always have enough aircraft for today's conflicts." (See also: A Little to the Right… and Delaying Retirement?) The Air Force deployed 12 A-10C Thunderbolt II attack aircraft from Moody AFB, Ga., to Incirlik AB, Turkey, in support of Operation Inherent Resolve on Oct. 15, 2015. Air Force photo by A1C Cory W. Bush. comment image of twitter icon image of facebook icon image of reddit icon Gene, My fellow Xerox retiree bud's (both of us USAF vets) grandson just joined the USAF. He is gung-ho to report but he wants to make sure he gets into electronics or mechanics. He aced the AFQTs. They offered several different report date options, some of which did not allow his first choice of career fields. The recruiter called him yesterday and said I can get you in tomorrow if you want to go on A-10s, no career field guarantee. It seems that the A-10 personnel had a huge turnover to retirement and early outs because their aircraft was going away. Then the Congress reversed the decision on dropping the A-10s and now they are extremely short handed. Another case of government ignorance when they make strictly money decisions.
Don't know yet whether he will go the A-10 route or wait. Grandson asked grandpa what he should do. Grandpa, said that's your decision, you are an adult now.
His grandpa installed ILS systems at AFBs during the early 60's out of Warner-Robbins, GA. He was a stickler for details. He had wanted to go into motor pool but his recruiter said he would be a dumb ass if he didn't go for electronics because he qualified. He had just finished installing the ILS system at Homestead, AFB when the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out. They kept him on site and put him in crypto because he had clearance for that. His staff sergeant told him not to let anyone in the crypto room and he took that order seriously. So seriously, that he would not let JFK into the room when he came to visit. The scared and apologetic staff sergeant showed up and escorted the President into the room. JFK laughed it off and said, that man did his job and was following orders. I like that.
My buddy said that 24 hours after the horn went off, you could not find a square foot of turf or tarmac to stand on because it was all full of airplanes, vehicles and troop tents.
The good old days! Pat P.
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Post by Jim on Feb 4, 2016 7:44:35 GMT 9
The piece of crap F 35 will never die-there is too much graft and corruption involved in it........Too bad Lockheed didn't clone Kelly Johnson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wouldn't have taken 20 years plus to get it in the air
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