"Bill Clark" wrote in message
om...
I saw a PBS special on the X-plane competition between Boeing and
Lockheed for the Joint Task Force (JTF) fighter; the jet of the
future. I think the whole thing was a total waste of money, and that
by signing off on this competition the Pentagon has doomed America to
a useless arsenal.

Boeing's plane was so heavy they had to remove panels before it could
even hover. Neither aircraft could stay in the air more than half an
hour without refueling (Boeing's Navy style in-flight refueling system
was not operational and so they had to land every half an hour to
refuel). Neither plane had any armaments or weapons during all of
this.


******** , the lockmart plane demonstrated better range than the F-18


The problem is that the Pentagon requires the JTF to be vertical take
off/landing capable. By doing so they are requiring 25% of the
aircraft to be devoted to the necessary systems; in the case of the
winning Lockheed aircraft, a huge fan in the middle of the fuselage.


Incorrect only ONE variant of the 3 offered has VSTOL
and only that variant has the fan.


Granted, it's an elegant engineering accomplishment but it has zero
combat effectiveness. Requiring all jets to be built by these
standards is suicidal because it reduces the range and payload of
every attack jet. It's really depressing to me that our military
planners have come up with such an idiotic plan and that neither
Lockheed or Boeing made the slightest objection. Clearly they are not
American companies any longer but multi national corporations whose
sympathies belong to the highest bidder.


What depresses me is that someone who describes himself
as a PE got so little right.

Keith