New fighter jet training stalls, grounding pilots (More problems with the F-35 POS)
By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press
Monday, February 27, 2012
(02-27) 01:24 PST EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) --
The best fighter pilots from the Air Force, Marines and Navy arrived in the Florida Panhandle last year to learn to fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive, most advanced weapons program in U.S. history. They are still waiting.
Concerns about the stealth jets' safety, cost overruns and questions about the entire program's feasibility have delayed the training and left about 35 pilots mostly outside the cockpit. The most the pilots do with the nine F-35s at Eglin Air Force Base is occasionally taxi them and fire up the engines. Otherwise their training is limited to three F-35 flight simulators, classroom work and flights in older-model jets. Only a handful of test pilots get to fly the F-35s.
"The most-frustrated pilot is one who isn't flying at all," said Marine Col. Arthur Tomassetti, vice commander of the fighter wing and a former test pilot for the F-35 prototype.
Built by Lockheed Martin under a 2001 contract, the F-35 is supposed to replace Cold War-era aircraft such as the Air Force's F-16 fighter and the Navy's and Marines' F/A-18 Hornet. It would also be sold to many NATO countries and other U.S. allies.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/27/national/a011737S83.DTL
= new reply since forum marked as read
Who are these State-of-the-Art fighters supposed to fight?
Who is manufacturing their opponent?
The USA would be much better off if they learned from the old Soviet Union
and spent our money building much less expensive and complex Hi-Tech gadgetry,
and produce MORE rugged, less complex, field serviceable, dependable machinery.
OR,
better yet:
---President Dwight Eisenhower
You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
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