alt Hacker NewsUK to buy F-35As that can't be refueled from RAF tankers
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The refueling seems like a very minor issue. In joint NATO missions, the F-35A can just be fueled by tankers operated by the US. Alternatively, if the UK intends to operate these 12 planes long term and on missions that actually require refueling, they could buy or modify one or more tankers.
It's not really an impossible problem to solve. It's also the only plane the UK can buy that would allow them to launch US made nuclear weapons, assuming that they would like to participate in the US nuclear sharing program in the future. Many of the nuclear sharing agreements the US have involves other countries using their planes and pilots, while the US provides the weapon and launch codes.
A British F-35 has been stranded in an Indian airport for over a week, post it's emergency landing.
It's not clear why. Official reason is that it ran low on fuel (a reason that's not been taken seriously).
Britain has rejected India's offer of a hangar. So it's been sitting there in the open since it landed.
https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/story/british-f35-jet-st...
My understanding is that F-35's come with a deployment of US personnel that hold the encryption keys necessary to program the flight computers. You're always flying these at the mercy of the US. Not to mention the dependency of modern fighter craft on a steady supply of parts.
This is mostly just inheriting the weird decision making US side - navy and airforce using different refueling standards rather than some UK screwup.
Not ideal but seems like a reasonable compromise to me given that any scenario where UK is nuking anyone will presumably have European mainland buy in. i.e. could refuel there on the way to where you're going.
In any case seems unlikely that the UK would ever deploy nukes far away. UK is a regional power and has nuclear missile subs anyway for further out if needed.
The title is misleading no? The F-35As can be adapted to use probe and drogue system the RAF uses.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120818131239/http://www.dodbuz...
Switzerland this week found out that "fixed price" does not mean fixed price. The 6 Billion Swiss francs that the purchase of 36 F35s was supposed to cost is going to supposedly cost 1.5 Billion more. [1]
Additionally they also found out that the Patriot missile system they purchased around the same time (which hasn't been delivered yet) is "not the latest version" and not compatible with other systems meaning the price is not the price that was agreed upon.
We also get fucked by the fact that the conversion rate (USD to CHF) IS fixed at the rate from 4 years ago which is way worse than today.
Also no one is talking about the 15 Billion that the F35 maintenance is "estimated" to cost for the first 5 years.
Switzerland has no alternative, no other plane can be delivered in the time frame needed and the F35 is already late.
Many are very pissed rightly so at what the people responsible for this as such issues were pointed out back then [3]. Not surprisingly many of them left their jobs earlier this year.
Best part was that the people in charge back then claimed they had to accept the offer now (before a initiative vote on the plane) or we would not get this "deal" of a price as the offer from Lockheed would expire before the vote.
And of course: the contract is secret...
[1] https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/various/f-35-costs-were-never-f...
[2] https://www.blick.ch/politik/deutsche-zahlen-fuer-f35-fast-d...
[3] https://www.blick.ch/politik/krach-um-kampfjet-f-35a-chef-de...
Airstrip One.
Why are we buying further into the US closed garden? Why pay and then ask for permission from "daddy" before we can use our own toys?
So they'll be ready for Brexit, phase 2, but that's it?
We really need to up our defence game by not requiring collaboration with other countries or companies.
Sure we have BAE systems, Babcock and Rolls Royce, but none of these companies can produce a whole weapon/plane/tank by themselves, without needing another 100 companies to supply components around the world.
The same goes with our European friends across the water; to make the Eurofighter Typhoon required hundreds of companies to collaborate across the UK/EU.
We need a bit more independence, more garden shed industry and localised companies.
The UK has a lot of pioneering knowledge and continues to make breakthroughs but it would be better if we could be a bit more selfish and make our own stuff with our own supply chain.
To those that argue, "we live in a global world", "everything is more complex now", "UK defence can't make everything" - are you so sure of that?
Just an example - the Spitfire was wholly made in the UK in the 1940s with 200 companies subcontracted from big cities to small towns across the country.