When the F-35B crashed in Florida weeks ago, the F-35 program may have reached a milestone. Things that go wrong for a military aircraft takes years of mishap to determine what can go wrong. The F-35's build evolution may have left its R&D initial build hanger and moved into an operational hanger. Faulty fuel tubes have been deemed as the culprit for the first crash of an F-35, an F-35B to be exact. It is the most complex of three F-35's types offered because of its lift fans and other sundry things that support this avionic marvel.
Crashing and burning $150 million in a minute or less because of a fuel tube failure, is not what is ever desired, but having reached this milestone indicates the problems for the program may have approached the nuts and bolts stage rather than its developmental computer stage. It's not saying software and hardware still have some vetting to do and will always having development going on. In fact, the jet is expected to be a frontline fighter for the next 50 years and the R&D phase will chase it into retirement like all self-respecting supersonic fighters have done in the past.
Perhaps the F-35 reached its program maturity when its fuel tubes failed on one F-35B. Kind of like a hydraulic line leaking out on a backhoe. Remember this flying supercomputer has parts surrounding it in order to mechanically fly. But it's progressing into its promise on being the very next best JSF nobody else has in its inventory, except for a few our allied "friends" who have emersed themselves into the F-35 culture.
I wondered why it only flew at a speed of Mach 1.6 when for the last fifty years fighter jets and even some bombers fly faster than Mach 1.6. Then it dawned on me there is a preponderance of dependency on that "supercomputer" to do the work instead of doing elite airshow stunts like Russia and China prefer to do. After-all stunts impress its masses. War is not about stunts it's about winning and the US is flying its supercomputer against aerobatic displays. The F-35 isn't about 20th-century dog-fighting as found in the movie "Top Gun".
However, it is about fighting at the speed of light on a circuit board or in a computer chip. That is the theory in a nutshell.
In fact, the aviation weapons progression has not kept up with the F-35 task and purpose. It doesn't have long enough range of missiles, It doesn't hold enough weapons in its stealthy bays. It has too few bullets onboard making the A-10 the ultimate tank killer. However, the F-35 can do so much more from 50,000 feet than at 50 feet. It's survivable from that distance and those on the ground are not without the F-35, as it "directs" tons of various weapons on to targets in a "fixed" battle space. Fixed could be defined as moving slower than a hundred miles per hour going across the land. That pesky little flying computer strikes again firing weapons within a diverse battle space using others artillery, rockets and directing forces to hidden adversarial targets. It can also link ships, submarines and other aircraft in its battle plan, slaving Mach 2+ to its purposes from special built speed aircraft delivering its own payloads with precision. So Mach 1.6 is about right after-all.
The coach on aviation's bench isn't needed as a Wide receiver or quarterback in this metaphor, it just has to game plan better than the opposition who doesn't have a coach capable of doing so many things in from the battle sidelines.
Its true weapon is that its upgradeble as new inventions of war emerge. The F-35 needs a pilot to bring the speed of light to the battle space in an up close and personal manner. Perhaps this is a stepping stone for a satellite battle management!
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