F 35
Supersonic all weather single place Strike Fighter ( 2015 )
Development
Cost = 1.1Trillion Operational
( Maybe never )
Approximately 45 cents of every dollar of Government spending
goes to the Military and much of it is wasted dollars and misplaced priorities
such as the current 1.1 Trillion dollar F 35 Strike Fighter. With the advent of
Drones, the future of manned military aircraft is dimmed considerably and a
restructuring of America's priorities is necessary ~ particularly in light of
our rapidly fading infrastructure and inadequate social welfare programs. The
question still remains, are our super expensive fighter planes and interceptors
here to protect the fleet or to provide an intimidating presence of control and
dominance in a world that increasingly longs for peace: Allen L Roland, Ph.D
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the
world will know peace" ~ Indian philosopher Sri Chinmoy
Ghose.
America’s
$400 billion Joint Strike Fighter, or F-35, is slated to join fighter squadrons
next year ~ but missing software will render its 25mm cannon useless. Dave Majumdar, The Daily Beast, lays out the sad story
of misplaced priorities:
" Even though
the Joint Strike Fighter, or F-35, is supposed to join frontline U.S. Marine
Corps fighter squadrons next year and Air Force units in 2016, the jet’s
software does not yet have the ability to shoot its 25mm cannon. But even when
the jet will be able to shoot its gun, the F-35 barely carries enough
ammunition to make the weapon useful….“There will be no gun until [the Joint
Strike Fighter’s Block] 3F [software], there is no software to support it now
or for the next four-ish years,” said one Air Force official affiliated
with the F-35 program. “Block 3F is slated for release in 2019, but who
knows how much that will slip?”
However, the Air
Force official said that very fact the F-35 will not have a functional gun when
it becomes operational is symptomatic of a deeply troubled program. “To me,
the more disturbing aspect of this delay is that it represents yet another
clear indication that the program is in serious trouble,” the official
said. F-35 maker “Lockheed Martin is clearly in a situation where they are
scrambling to keep their collective noses above the waterline, and they are
looking to push non-critical systems to the right in a moment of desperation.”
See article http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/27824-15-trillion-f-35-joint-strike-fighter-cant-fire-its-own-gun-until-2019
F 3H Demon
after-burning supersonic all weather single place Interceptor (1960)
Development
Cost = 250 Million
Operational
( 3 years ~ replaced by F4H two place
multimillion dollar Phantom )
Now
let's compare this with the 250 million dollar F3H Demon which I flew for three
years as a Naval Aviator in Advanced Fighter training in Miramar, California in
1959 ~ as well as approximately 150 all-weather landings on the USS Ranger
on the Sea of Japan in 1960/61.
The F3H 'Demon' served as the U.S. Navy's
strong arm in the air from 1956 to 1965, when its younger brother, the famed F4
Phantom took to the skies. The Navy desperately
needed a high performance fighter to meet the challenge of the swept-wing MiG-15 encountered over Korea. Later models, predesignated F3H-2M, were equipped to fire the
Raytheon AAM-N-2 Sparrow and later the Sidewinder
air-to-air missiles ~ both of which I carried
and fired. Deployed aircraft carried both types of missiles, the Sparrow on
the inboard rails and the Sidewinder outboard. Cannons were not used in carrier
air defense applications, but they were installed and armed when situations
(such as the Cuban Missile Crisis) dictated, and where the
aircraft might be deployed against surface targets.
Due to excellent visibility from the cockpit, the Demon
earned the nickname "The Chair". Demon pilots were
known colloquially as "Demon Drivers" and those who
worked on the aircraft were known as "Demon Doctors".
The unfavorable power-to-weight ratio gave rise to the less flattering nickname
"lead sled," sometimes shortened to "sled".
As an accomplished Demon Driver, I grew to love this sled for it proved to be
highly maneuverable and forgiving when landing on the carrier ~ particularly
at night and in all weather conditions.
I
also spent a year at the Navy electronics school in Memphis, Tennessee in order
to learn the intricacies of the Demon's elaborate and advanced radar system.
It
took a tremendous commitment to become a carrier based Demon Driver and I
vividly remember sitting in my cockpit on the number #1 catapult preparing for
a rare early morning launch on the South China Sea in 1960, with tears running
down my cheeks, as I fully realized I was living my dream ~ but that was
just a prelude for later finding the courage to fully open my heart, go through
my deepest fears and finally discover and own and prove my Unified Field of love and soul consciousness
which lies not only beyond time and space but also beneath our deepest fears.
But
I digress
~ at a cost of well over 250 million and overcoming costly engine as well as
ejection seat problems ~ 519 Demons were built up
to the end of production in November of 1959 and finally retired in 1964.
That's two years of flight operations at an operational
cost of over a quarter of a Billion dollars.
Now, 55 years later, we
have a 1.1 trillion dollar (over 100 Billion dollars) joint Strike
Fighter F35 which is not even operational and may not be by 2019 and whose
mission is somewhat diminished by Drones and the out of control appetite of a
greed driven Military Industrial complex.
The
unanswered question still remains, are our incredibly expensive fighter planes
and supersonic Interceptors here to protect
the fleet ~ or to provide an intimidating presence of control and dominance in
a world which increasingly longs to unite in a spirit of peace, altruism and
social cooperation.
"I confidently trust that
the American people will prove themselves too wise not to detect the false
pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide
themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: 'Our country, right or
wrong!' They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions
and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be
secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: 'Our
country-when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.'" - Carl Schurz
Allen
L Roland, Ph.D
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/11-trillion-dollar-f-35-symbol-of.html
Heart
centered spiritual consultant and advisor Allen L Roland can
be contacted at allen@allenroland.com . Allen is also a lecturer and writer who shares a weekly political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com. He is also a featured columnist on Veterans
Today and guest
hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
