BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

For those of you have either away on vacation or living under a rock this past summer; the F-35 has had some major engine issues. Let us recap: On June 23rd, a F-35A caught fire prior to taking off at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The F-35A was suspended from flight status on July 3rd, just prior to the Independence Day long weekend.   This meant the JSF would be unable to make its planned international debut at the Queen Elizabeth 's naming ceremony . The F-35 would go on to miss the Royal International Air Tattoo scheduled for the next week. Then the Farnborough Air Show the week after that. Questions about the F-35's alternate engine, the GE F136, were quickly dismissed . In July, " excessive rubbing " in the engine was named as the culprit.   Shortly after, the JSF's grounding was lifted , but with severe restrictions. Those restrictions were relaxed somewhat  two weeks later. Two weeks later, restrictions were lifted further . Now ano...

The Spirograph...  OF DOOM! I recently posted about the possibility of Italy reducing its F-35 order down to 45 out of the once planned 131.  One question that always pops up after news like this is "Could this be the start of the F-35's death spiral ?" Not really. The JSF program is already far enough along, with enough money already invested, that there is unlikely to be any issue big enough to kill the program outright.  The F-35 is simply " Too big to fail ".   100 jets have already been constructed , with more on the way.  The JSF's "winner take all" competition has removed all possibility of a contingency plan such as pressing a navy design into USAF service, akin to the F-4 Phantom II.  The only other viable options are '90s era aircraft like the Super Hornet and Typhoon.  Neither option is attractive to the USAF.    For the STOVL F-35B, there are no options at all, save extending the life of existing AV-8 Harriers. One wa...