On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 14:25:42 -0600, Alan Minyard
wrote:

On 25 Dec 2003 22:41:36 GMT, "Emmanuel.Gustin" wrote:

In rec.aviation.military Steven James Forsberg wrote:

: I am shocked! What a surprise! A military program going over budget
: and running behind schedule? :-)

JSF, like TFX before it, is attempting to be a perfect
solution for a set of very diverse problems... Usually
that is more expensive than building three separate
designs.

I always doubted that all three versions of JSF would
go into production. Probably Congress will delete at
least one at some stage, most likely the STOVL version
for the USMC and the RN. With the programme (inevitably)
going over budget, and government budgets firmly in the
red anyway, it will be too tempting.

You really have no idea how US politics/defense spending
operate, do you? The F-35 will be built in all three configurations,
and it will be the best strike fighter in the world. I realize that you
hate the US, but at least try to be rational.

Al Minyard

I'm not certain-- remember the A-12, or the A, B and C V/stol
programs of the 1970's? (Of course the fact that we have a flyable JSF
helps in this case )

On the other hand, I don't see a delation of any version-- perhaps a
reduction in production numbers (which never makes any sense-- you're
going to try to save money by reducing production and increasing per
hunit cost? But this is congress).
The fact of the matter is, given what the JSF is trying to do, and
hte traditional absolute failure of multi-service fighter aircraft, I
think the program is actually doing quite well, given the technical
challanges.