Hagel's visit is a strong signal in support of the JSF and his words have been taken up by all international agencies. Part of the declarations can be consulted on Stripes.com.
The F-35 is the future - Hagel said - it is a great project and we, like the other eight partners around the world, place great trust in it.
The Eglin Air Force Base is home to the Integrated Training Center, a fundamental training facility for future Air Force, Marine and Navy operators who will use the Joint Strike Fighter.
The F-35 was grounded on July 23 after a fire that occurred on June 35. The fire broke out on the tail section of an F-35 during an aborted takeoff. The pilot survived undamaged while the fire was extinguished within seconds. The root cause of the accident remains under investigation, even if you point your finger at the aircraft's engine. And as you know, the F-XNUMX doesn't have a spare engine (insert other engine piece).
According to Hagel the checks on the engine were complete, even if the investigations have not yet been completed. This means that until then, the entire fleet will remain on the ground. The F-35's debut at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK next week could be postponed.
Until we discover the cause - added Hagel - no F-35 will take off. Of course - the US Secretary of Defense said with regret - if we could not take him to Farnborough, we would be disappointed, but we can't risk it.
This is not the first time that F-35 is grounded. Last year, all flight operations were interrupted due to a crack in the engine turbine. However, Hagel has no doubts, arguing that the F-35 will be able to counter new military technologies being developed in China and Russia.
The Pentagon should buy 2400 Joint Strike Fighter for a total cost of 400 billion dollars, the 70 per cent more than the original projections and for more aircraft. The production contract for the Joint Strike Fighter was awarded to Lockheed in the 2001.
To date, around 100 fighters have been delivered while development and testing continues. About 100 F-35 pilots have been trained at Englin, including British and Dutch aviators. Much of the training was performed on the simulators, because the aircraft's software is not yet ready. The pilots then never carried out fire training missions because the planes do not yet have the necessary software, for example, for bombing.
In fact, we are talking about an aircraft that has yet to reach its initial operational capacity: the current F-35 is not yet ready for use in combat.
There is no lack of critics for the most expensive US defense project ever. For Senator John McCain, the current costs represent a real shame. For others, the real cause of the F-35's problems is that it has given it too many roles to play.
Finally, for others, the problem lies in having "too much" technology in a single aircraft. Because it is one thing to have vertical take-off, supersonic speed, multi-role ability and stealth design, another is to have everything coexist in a single integrated system.
Franco Iacch
(photo: JSF / DoD USA)
