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In another blow to the F-35 program, Canada is reconsidering plans to buy 65 of the Lockheed...

  • Thursday, December 13, 2012, 3:00 AM ET
    In another blow to the F-35 program, Canada is reconsidering plans to buy 65 of the Lockheed Martin (LMT) fighter jets after an audit found it would cost $45.8B to acquire and operate the planes over their expected lifespan of 42 years. That's way above forecasts, and while the government might still buy the F-35, it will also look at purchasing alternative aircraft such as Boeing's (BA) Super Hornet.
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This news story has 5 comments:

  •  
    So who says that the world doesn't have inflation issues??

    Just goes to show you how fragile our economies are right now !!
    13 Dec 2012, 06:39 AM Reply Like
  •  
    shhh! they're a little oveheated with poisoned meat and spies and bribes and illegal election tactics of several different sorts and a plummeting popularity, and jumping in on the wrong side of the israel stuff and selling out to the chinese and their pet pipeline project failing and the republicans didn't get in...

    so many nails... the ceo might need to be replaced, a rebranding which the republicans avoided to the south, to their electoral sorrow.
    13 Dec 2012, 07:40 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Old news. This was published on 12/6, and like every day a different news source repeats it.
    13 Dec 2012, 08:19 AM Reply Like
  •  
    How about some analysis instead of breathless relaying of data? The $46B number is meaningless in and of itself. Given that the period covered is 42 years, most of the cost is inflation and all of the cost is based on assumptions of inflation, cost of fuel, etc in 2057. Smart people can't get fuel cost estimates right in 2013, why should the 2057 number be accepted as correct? Much of the increase in cost comes from extending the period covered from 20 years to 42. Of course it is going to be higher than the previous estimate. Cost only becomes meaningful when compared to an alternative. All other alternatives, e.g. F-18, Euro are fourth gen acft and would have to include development and procurement for a new airplane in their total cost since they will be obsolete as front line fighters by 2030.
    13 Dec 2012, 08:53 AM Reply Like
  •  
    The F/A-18 start life as the Northrop YF-17 in 1974
    that lost to General Dynamics YF-16
    Northrop redesign the YF-17 for the Navy as the F/A-18 with McDonnell aircraft
    the agreement between with McDonnell call for all land base sale would be light weight version call the (F-17) F-18L for land this never but Northrop sue McDonnell
    The F-35 is not the Lockheed F-35 but the Lockheed- Northrop-BAC F-35
    Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is the prime contractor and performs aircraft final assembly, overall system integration, mission system, and provides forward fuselage, wings and flight controls system.
    Northrop Grumman provides Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, electro-optical Distributed Aperture System (DAS), Communications, Navigation, Identification (CNI), center fuselage, weapons bay, and arrestor gear. In Palmdale caifornia

    BAE Systems provides aft fuselage and empennages, horizontal and vertical tails, crew life support and escape systems, Electronic warfare systems, fuel system, and Flight Control Software (FCS1).
    Boeing lost out with their version of their F-35

    The Northrop YF-23 is still the better aircraft over the F-22 and F-35
    dating back to 1980
    13 Dec 2012, 03:51 PM Reply Like
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