On Friday (March 5), the chairman of the U.S. House Of Representatives Armed Services Committee lashed out at the expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, saying he wanted to "stop throwing money into that rat hole" — and just a few days earlier, the Air Force had said it was considering other options.
"What does the F-35 give us? Is there a way to reduce our losses? （What does the F-35 give us? And is there a way to cut our losses?) "House Military Committee Chairman Adam Smith, Washington State Democrat, said of the F35 project in an online forum at the Brookings Institution: "Is there a way not to spend so much money on such low combat capabilities?" Because operation and maintenance is a lot of money. ”
For F35, this is the first time that the U.S. Congress has been questioned at this level. F35 has been smooth sailing before, and even when Congress discussed the defense budget for fiscal year 2021 four months ago, the House added $1.4 billion to F35 procurement. Unexpectedly, just a few days later, the head of the House Military Committee actually scolded this as a "rat hole." This bend is turning too fast, and it is inevitable that it is counterintuitive.
Presumably, that's because the F35's recent spate of explosions did feel a bit dazzled: first, the former Deputy Secretary of Defense, Alan Thompson, who was in charge of the procurement. Ellen Lord revealed that the F35's mission capabilities were much lower than military targets; then Defense Department officials revealed that the F35 had engine shortages. In fact, the worst part of the F35 project is the logistics information system ALIS, which is not shallow, and the 33rd Wing (main division training) of Eglin Air Force Base simply did not use it in 2018. Therefore, the US Air Force at the end of 2020 rumors to cut 40% of the number of F35As, and the recent US Air Force Chief of Staff Admiral Brown's clear statement on the so-called "4.5 generation" fighter is to let the outside world explain it as an empathy for the F35 after a long period of substandard performance. With so much padding, it is only natural for the Chairman to see the wind and make the rudder.
It should be said that F35 has come to this point today is not very unexpected. After all, the F35's maker, Loma, is the only U.S. supplier of stealth fighter jets. The American company that barely has the strength to play with it in this regard has long been PK in the X35 and X32 wars twenty years ago. Perhaps the Löhm X35 at that time was indeed more in line with the requirements of the U.S. Air Force than Boeing's X32. But when Loma can be alone and defeated, of course, it is inevitable that the shop will deceive customers. Human nature is still like this, not to mention that loma company is still the son and grandson of the American capital group, and what illusions do it about the nature of capital to do anything for profit?
This taste, the US Air Force has actually learned before the F100, F110 engine war. Although the U.S. Air Force was in a hurry to catch up with the F100, it could not care about omitting many necessary tests in order to catch up with the schedule, but Puhui did pick a cheap and well-behaved style. The F15A became the queen of the hangar, and the US Air Force almost had to go to court with Pratt & Whitney. At the end of the day, is it not the result of a lack of competition? Since the US capital group needs F35 to be the terminator in order to maximize its interests, what can the US government, as the spokesman of the capital group, complain? The Ministry of Defense, as the largest department of the government, should give better support. Therefore, today's play is also destined in the end.
In addition, the problem of F35 also reflects the severity of the contraction of the US manufacturing industry. F35's component supply chain problems have been gradually exacerbated over the years: for example, the number of delayed deliveries in August 2017 was still lower than 2,000, and two years later it was 10,000. The average monthly shortage of parts in July 2018 was still 875, and after a year, it has increased to more than 8,000. I really don't know how the F35 that is still delivering at high speed in this situation has passed the acceptance? Since it can quickly pass the acceptance, the logical inference is that a large number of problems are prevaricated to the maintenance stage after delivery, and then the maintenance is full of problems, and the F35's task execution ability is probably difficult to improve.
In fact, not only military aircraft are problematic, but also civil aircraft: Since Boeing's 737MAX exploded the flight control system problem, its 787 assembly line in North Charleston, South Carolina, has also revealed serious production and regulatory problems, threatening aircraft safety. Barnett, a quality manager who retired after nearly 30 years at Boeing, found several clumps of metal scrap hanging from the flight control system's wiring. Once these debris penetrates the wires, the consequences are "catastrophic." The result of repeatedly urging the boss to remove the debris was that the request was rejected and he was transferred to another post. Oh, since you can't solve the problem, solve the person who found the problem.
Of course, civilian products are always better, after all, the supply chain is all over the world, not as sensitive as military products. But the F35 problem seems to be increasingly bleak under the current U.S. system.