Friday, September 28, 2012

The Fifth Estate Shoots the F-35 Down in Flames

CBC's The Fifth Estate aired one of its all time best episodes tonight, "Runaway Fighter."   The programme laid bare the rank dishonesty and duplicity of the Harper government and its obsession with Lockheed's aerial "turkey."   Clips showed both Harper and MacKay lying through their teeth about fictional competitions and supposed contracts to order 65 F-35s. 



The episode takes a critical look at the deeply flawed warplane that suffers from substandard speed, agility, range and payload, all for the sake of supposed stealth invisibility that one retired U.S. Defense Department expert denounced as a "scam" technology.

Another point the programme brought out was the claim by the 35's Canadian boosters that it will serve our country for 50 years.   A half-century lifespan for a frontline "fighter" ranks right up there with immaculate conception.

If you missed the first airing, be sure to watch out for the next broadcast or visit The Fifth Estate web site and view it there.

5 comments:

Sixth Estate said...

40-50 years is, if I recall correctly, the official planning policy from DND. Hilariously, they only estimate the operating costs over 30 years or so, so even the "hidden" cost estimates that came out earlier in the year are actually fake estimates.

Fifty years ago, a building-sized supercomputer could churn through less material than my desktop computer can today. The first guided bombs existed, but only on the drawing board. Drone technology was in its comparative infancy.

We're kidding ourselves if we think the F-35 is actually going to be in use 50 years from now.

The Mound of Sound said...

Agreed. Once we realize that this stealth technology is an all but useless gimmick that's been used to sell us an all-round sub-par warplane, we'll be forced back to square one. In as little as five to ten years after the F-35 enters service we may be shelling out for its replacement.

Anonymous said...

For the cost of buying this lemon, we could build our own fighter like we did in the '50's, or just buy the Eurofighter and be done with the whole shebang.

Anonymous said...

For the cost of buying this lemon, we could build our own fighter like we did in the '50's, or just buy the Eurofighter and be done with the whole shebang.

The Mound of Sound said...

Anon, we might be well advised to consider a joint venture with SAAB to develop a long range, high speed, twin engine successor to the J-39 Griffin. Unlike Eurofighter or Rafale and certainly Lockheed's offerings, SAAB has been able to deliver very capable airframes with equally impressive systems for far lower costs.

Failing that, Canada, along with other F-35 clients (except those that need the vertical engine model) should tell Washington to take their overdue, overpriced and underperforming F-35. If the Yanks really want us to buy their warplanes, let Lockheed develop an updated variant of the F-22 Raptor available for export to America's chosen allies.

What ever happened to the customer is always right? Washington seems to have forgotten that.