“It is unlikely that they will, but we recommend a different identification for the F-35. It is not a shared aircraft, but they are three totally different platforms". It would be appropriate to call the other versions F-36 and F-37.
The United States Senate confirms (even politically after the admission of the military, we have been repeating this for a while), that the program Joint Strike Fighter it is not developing a common war platform for the Air Force, Navy and Marine, but three different tactical fighters.
We read in the official note of the Senate in its version of National Defense Authorization Act for 2017. “They are actually three different models that share a basic cockpit, engine, software and a logistics network. Despite aspirations for a joint aircraft, versions A, B and C are essentially three distinct aircraft, with different missions and capacity requirements. " The Marine's F-35B should be called F-36. That of the Navy, F-37.
Considering the necessary bureaucratic process that will culminate with Obama's signing, the common F-35 language could disappear forever within the next few months. Only three months ago, amid fierce controversy, the head of the JSF program, General Christopher Bogdan, confirmed that the three F-35 models had only 20/25% of the parts in common, especially in their cockpits.
We have three separate production lines - Bogdan said - getting a joint fighter is difficult, because each branch is adamant about its needs.
The Senate, which is proposing a new language, also requests the closure of the JSF program office, from the moment the F-35 will go into serial production. Since then - the senators write - there will be three separate programs: one for the Air Force, one for the Marines and one for the Navy.
"This will help ensure the correct alignment of responsibilities and that too often missed need."
The Senate position stands in stark contrast to Lockheed Martin's ten-year promotional campaign, prime contractor of the 400 billion program. Lockheed sold the F-35 as a warplane stealth universal, with highly compatible models in order to simplify production, maintenance and training, while reducing costs. The fighters then evolved, amidst conceptual and design flaws deeply rooted within the program, in different directions.
In 2014, the Air Force's F-35A, lighter and more manageable of the three versions, cost $ 150 million each. In the same year the F-35B, optimized version for the Marine Corps, cost 250 million dollars each. In 2014, the Navy's F-35C cost $ 330 million each.
(photo: Lockheed Martin)
