Is the JSF Fighter getting a reality check ?

'Crawling at your feet,' said the Gnat (Alice drew her feet back in some alarm), 'you may observe a Bread-and-Butterfly. Its wings are thin slices of Bread-and-butter, its body is a crust, and its head is a lump of sugar.'

'And what does it live on?'

'Weak tea with cream in it.'

A new difficulty came into Alice's head. 'Supposing it couldn't find any?' she suggested.

'Then it would die, of course.'

'But that must happen very often,' Alice remarked thoughtfully.

'It always happens,' said the Gnat.

Alice Through the Looking Glass Ch.3

The US Government Accountability Office ( the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress) has reported on the Pentagon's fiscal 2007 budget plan, which proposed cancelling an alternate engine by General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Plc, for the supersonic Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, saying the move would save $US1.8 billion ) and posed little to no risk.

The GAO said the US Defence Department's decision challenged the decision "In supporting the decision to cancel, officials focused only on the potential up-front savings in engine procurement costs. They did not, however, consider the full long-term savings that might accrue from competition for providing support for maintenance and operations over the life cycle of the engine," GAO concluded in a letter to congress.

The House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee have each approved legislation to reinstate funding for the program, which they say could save money in the long-run by promoting more competition.

"Clearly, this new report buttresses the case for keeping the alternate engine," said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, a Virginia Republican.

Lockheed is the prime contractor for the overall F-35 project, while Pratt & Whitney, part of United Technologies Corp, will build the plane's initial engine.

GAO point out the Pratt & Whitney engine has completed only a small portion of its ground tests and has not yet been flown, while the F-22 engine had completed only about 10 per cent of its hours needed for system maturity and was currently not meeting some reliability goals.

In a reply to Senator John Warner and Curt Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who heads the House tactical air subcommittee the GAO states, "There has not been sufficient testing to demonstrate that the primary JSF engine will perform as expected."

The Pentagon called the GAO report "misleading" and said there was no data concluding a second engine could save in the longer term and that some operations costs could actually be higher with two suppliers, since they would require separate pipelines for spares, additional training and tools.

George and Tony twosome announce deal on JSF technology...

In the George and Tony love-in this weekend (in which Tony still did not collect his ConmgressionalMedal Of Honour) a deal was announced that will allow the use of same computer network by US and British officials 'to access military and intelligence information, to support joint military operations in the defence of freedom'.

It also stated in a very arcane way that both sides also "agreed to protect sensitive technologies in F-35 JSF". Britain will be "fully able to operate, upgrade and maintain" the JSF, "expected" to enter service in 2014. Which is difffreent to supplying en plein the technology ... they could attach US military personnel from the USAF to RAF units whose sole task would be to handle the technology. Much as Trident warheads have to be serviced in Georgia for the Navy Vanguard fleet.

Henry Hyde, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, has made it plain that the US should give the UK nothing. Hyde retires from politics in November.

Britain has of course still to develop the two carriers to take the STOL / JSF.... Australia is talking of extending the lives of current F11's and F22 Tomcats rather than taking the JSF ...

Remember of course the flying death wish, the Osprey, the Marines unarmed killer aircraft/ Helicopter should arrive in Iraq / Afghanistan later this year. This perpetual crashing wild turkey which has cost so many billions the GAO have stopped counting is going to concentrate a lot of minds on future major military aircraft.