F-35 JSF develops cracks.

[gambit]

As far as i concern, these two program cannot be even begin to compare. As J-20 is a domestic in house program, F-35 in an international developement. While the fomrer only need to satisify the need for Chinese Air Force, the latter need to satisify a whole bunch of people. And also because of that, the transperency of the program in F-35 is very high, therefore you got faults and fail news coming time after time. Because LH need to answer to not just the US government. On the other hand, the Chinese do not so, you never even hear anything abd on their program. As there are no one accountable, but themselves.

And for the J-20's supporters here, since nothing can be found on the Internet about any issues/problems the J-20 development program may have, the aircraft is essentially 'perfect'.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

The F-35 does have the potential to meet the Air force's and Navy's needs.. but its a compromise for the Marines(who are its most ardent backers) and as such does not really help in the need for allowing the Marines to fight it out alone

The primary focus of the F35 is to be an F16 replacement.

However many of the world's carriers (or Amphibious Assault ships) right now only support Harrier aircraft. The Harrier is getting very old and needs replacement. The US Marines felt their primary focus should be on helicopters and sunk their research budget into the V-22. They certainly would love new custom jets but nobody was going to hand them two expensive programs.

Seeing that there was a world market for Harrier type craft and the Marines were in need of a replacement the F35B was tossed on the table and perked up the interest of foreign navies. So instead of it being completely off the table the designers can now point to a common naval tech gap and have a reason to throw money at its development. Plus now some countries feel they can solve two problems at once.

So even if the F35B is at best mediocre for the job it needs to do I'm sure many countries are fine with that considering their options are limited.


As for the F35C. Well I guess you can call it an A6/F18A replacement.

 

[Superboy]

F-35 is delayed pretty badly. I think it was supposed to be operational by 2010 or so, initially.

 

[SQ8]

On the other hand, China do not have that problem, yes indeed JF-17 is a JV between China and Pakistan, but to be honest, first, China is not using JF-17, so their need on JF-17 is none, and secondly, China determine what Pakistan get in JF-17, as the project did R&D in China while Pakistan make the plane. What i am saying China dictate the term is not any thing deminishing, but rather a factual fact. Say if Pakistan wanted American Engine on JF-17, would you think China would obliged??.

Actually they would. One of the initial ideas behind the JF-17 was that Pakistan wanted to be able to put either the F-100, RD-93 or EJ.200 into the aircraft. Hence the engine bay was made fairly capacious for a fighter of its size. Moreover, China has no role in decision as to what gets put onto the aircraft in terms of electronics or weapons. What the Chinese do dictate is the access to the aircraft or rather their electronics. Just like the Americans are wary of the Chinese peeking into their SNIPER XR pods that came with the F-16s.. the Chinese are wary of unchecked exposure on their KG-300 pod and other systems in the aircraft.

The primary focus of the F35 is to be an F16 replacement.

However many of the world's carriers (or Amphibious Assault ships) right now only support Harrier aircraft. The Harrier is getting very old and needs replacement. The US Marines felt their primary focus should be on helicopters and sunk their research budget into the V-22. They certainly would love new custom jets but nobody was going to hand them two expensive programs.

Seeing that there was a world market for Harrier type craft and the Marines were in need of a replacement the F35B was tossed on the table and perked up the interest of foreign navies. So instead of it being completely off the table the designers can now point to a common naval tech gap and have a reason to throw money at its development. Plus now some countries feel they can solve two problems at once.

So even if the F35B is at best mediocre for the job it needs to do I'm sure many countries are fine with that considering their options are limited.


As for the F35C. Well I guess you can call it an A6/F18A replacement.

Yet, the F-35B required design compromises that ended up as compromises for the A & C model too. That commonality might have worked out for the Navy and AF but for a VTOL mission the aircraft needs a lot more in changes than for Carrier ops. At this point though, the marines are the ones pushing the F-35 the most. After all, once the harriers go .. they will not have an air asset capable of deploying from the LHDs.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

the marines are the ones pushing the F-35 the most. After all, once the harriers go .. they will not have an air asset capable of deploying from the LHDs.

You don't think the Air Force is pushing hard too? They will be buying MUCH more than the Marines. The F16 is 1970's tech. The Air Force wants a replacement just as badly.

Keep in mind the the F4 Phantom was a Navy plane that the Air Force ended up buying.
After that the Navy/Marines had more leverage in making design decisions.

The Air Force got their new F22, the Navy got the SuperHornet, and the Marines got the V22. The F35 is to be shared.

 

[SQ8]

You don't think the Air Force is pushing hard too? They will be buying MUCH more than the Marines. The F16 is 1970's tech. The Air Force wants a replacement just as badly.

Keep in mind the the F4 Phantom was a Navy plane that the Air Force ended up buying.
After that the Navy/Marines had more leverage in making design decisions.

The Air Force got their new F22, the Navy got the SuperHornet, and the Marines got the V22. The F35 is to be shared.

That they may be, but unlike the Marines.. the AF has assets it can push till 2030.. ironically the IOC for the 35B is the one suffering the most. Some of the reasons why the F4 was bought were.. Mc Namara.. and the famous question to him in a senate hearing:

"What , if any qualifications does the secretary have?"