Is It Time For F-35 To Bid Adieu To The Skies?

[unhappycamper]

http://www.gurufocus.com/news/268795/is-it-time-for-f35-to-bid-adieu-to-the-skies



Is It Time For F-35 To Bid Adieu To The Skies?
July 20, 2014

Blame it on the engine fire; Lockheed Martin’s (LMT) F-35 has been grounded. If this wasn’t all the good news, the F-35 won't fly at Britain's Royal International Air Tattoo, or RIAT, and could miss the Farnborough International Airshow, which starts on July 14. The latest technical failure in F-35’s engine has only added to its already long list of woes. The result of all this is a revised price of the F-35 being tagged at $398.6 billion just for accusation and development. The analysts have therefore started to question whether it’s now time to do F-35 away.

Problems Surrounding The F-35:

The F-35 has always found itself among problems. In addition to its recent engine fire, the F-35 is billions over budget, almost a decade behind schedule, and plagued by technical flaws. In early 2013, the F-35 was grounded due to a crack in the plane's engine. Unfortunately, the F-35's recent engine fire isn't the first glitch to face United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney made F135 engine. In fact, according to defense-aerospace.com, some of the F135's engine problems include: burning hotter than desired, repeated problems with the turbine blades, problems with the redesigned engine including failure to meet specifications, significant test failures, and a major oil leak which happened on June 13, just 10 days before the June 23 engine fire.

The Good News:

The only good news for Lockheed is that despite all of its problems, U.S. lawmakers still seem committed to supporting the F-35. Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, recently told the House Armed Services Committee that, "There's a growing body of evidence that this may have been an individual situation, not a systemic one. But we don't know that for certain at this point in time."

The bad news, however, is that the problems facing the F-35 continue to crop up, and one has to wonder how long the Pentagon will continue to support this program. For Lockheed, arguably no program is as important as the F-35. In 2013, the F-35 made up 16% of Lockheed's total consolidated net sales, and when Lockheed reported its first-quarter results for 2014, it reported, "Aeronautics' net sales for the first quarter of 2014 increased $200 million, or 6 percent, compared to the same period in 2013. The increase was primarily attributable to higher net sales of about $190 million for F-35 production contracts due to increased volume."

[Fred Sanders]

1. The most wasted money in the history of mankind, will one plane bankrupt an empire?

There ought to be massive media coverage of this mother of all wasteful government programs, a bipartisan screaming, but what is with the silence?

[SamKnause]

2. It is time to sue Lockheed Martin

and the Pentagon to recoup every cent wasted on this monstrosity !!!!

People get irate when the talk of raising taxes is bantered about.

This is a prime example of why.

How many roads and bridges could have been repaired with this fortune that was squandered ???

Take the money from the politicians that keep voting to fund this insanity !!!!

Seize their assets, freeze their bank accounts.

Are politicians in the U.S. held accountable for anything ????

The Pentagon is a bottomless pit of waste and fraud.

Paying $8,000.00 for a helicopter part that cost $456.00.

9 million and counting squandered on this debacle.

2.9 million set aside for the upcoming budget.

Our tax dollars are being squandered and no one is held accountable !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The U.S. is a warmongering nation.

The U.S. has no budget for peace !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!