Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
“The country’s air force has recommended buying the jets, but the outgoing defense minister said “the predictability of our allies” must be taken into account when making procurement decisions.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/portugal-rules-out-buying-f-35s-because-of-trump/
Unmanned drone technology is not yet able to replace the capabilities of a crewed plane like the F-35. Swarms of small drones have very limited ranges. Large drones will no longer be cheap and swarms would be too expensive. AI cannot yet fulfill the many tasks that a trained human pilot can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-A_aF7lpm4
Elon Musk is Wrong about the F-35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwN2Xatubxg
“Japan’s destroyer-turned-aircraft carrier just completed sea trials off the coast of California on Friday, the country’s navy said.
The JS Kaga was refitted with a flight deck that allowed crews “to conduct fixed-wing aircraft operations,” the US Defense Department said in a statement last month.
The Kaga is the first aircraft carrier to be operated by the Japanese navy since World War II as the country overhauls its maritime forces amid tensions in the Indo-Pacific. Central to the light carrier’s power is the short take-off and landing version of the F-35 stealth fighter.”
…
“Converting the ship to accommodate fighter jets goes against post-war Japan’s pacifist beliefs, so its navy designated the Kaga as a “multi-purpose destroyer” rather than an aircraft carrier. Nonetheless, the Kaga is not expected to be deployed like a traditional carrier.
“Given its history, it’s significant that Japan has come this far, and they have the capability now that looks like an aircraft carrier … once it’s reconfigured,” Jeffrey Hornung, a political scientist specializing in Japanese security and foreign policy, told Time in 2019.
He added: “But, then again, they’re not [aircraft carriers]. They don’t have any of the infrastructure for it to be deployed as such. They don’t have the strike capability. They don’t have any sort of intention to go further than what it is right now.””
https://www.yahoo.com/news/striking-images-show-f-35-120401316.html
Contrary to popular belief, the F-35 is bad ass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB_3UwpG-Do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puAAPnIgNvs
“The GAO notes that it would be more cost-efficient to hold off on buying F-35s until they are operationally tested than it would be to pay for the aircraft now and upgrade them later.
But, of course, when did cost efficiency and the military go hand-in-hand? There’s a reason Lockheed Martin brags about building parts of the F-35 in 48 different states, and that’s not because it saves money. The F-35 has been as much an expensive make-work program for military contractors as it has been a vital part of America’s national defense—and in that regard the cost overruns and eventual upgrades might be seen as a feature rather than a bug.
Production of the F-35 fighter was originally supposed to cost about $200 billion, but the price tag has already ballooned to about twice as much. Recently, Lockheed Martin warned that supply chain issues and inflation could cause further delays and cost overruns. Monday’s GAO report confirmed that construction is running behind schedule, with about 28 percent of the 553 completed jets having been delivered late.”