As Washington debates the various methods of simulating economic growth and job creation including new “investments” to kick start the economy, current investments must not be forgotten or terminated. One such investment, that is especially important to Arizona, is the F-35 program. In one word, the F-35 means JOBS.
The F-35 program directly and indirectly employs 127,000 people. It includes contributions from more than 1,300 companies in 47 states. What’s more is that the program will employ more people once full production rates are achieved.
Unfortunately, those in Washington do not seem to realize the importance of the F-35. They are unsure of whether to move forward with full funding for the F-35 program despite its substantial economic impact and the obvious national security benefits. Indeed, it is critical that the F-35 program be fully funded. Our country can not afford to lose the jobs, waste the resources or jeopardize military personnel by reducing the funds allocated to the F-35 program.
I ask Senators McCain and Kyl -- who have always been supportive in the past -- to fully fund the F-35. It is essential to our economy and our national security.
Frank Watson
Phoenix
Accuracy posted at 12:50 pm on Wed, Oct 19, 2011.
Dale Whiting posted: "Let's stop being the worlds most prominent terrorists!"
---------------------------------------------
No. Because the worlds most "prominent terrorists" are in Iran and Syria, and including Hezbollah and Hamas in the Middle East.
sockratties posted at 7:36 am on Tue, Oct 18, 2011.
So, Dale... pressing a sharp blade into someone's gut is decent? How about a nice flamethrower to set your enemy on fire, or maybe a steel jacketed round (yes, they've taken out the lead because it's bad for the environment) through the cranium? War is indecent and if you're good at it, it terrorizes your enemy. You can't make it noble or good but it is necessary, and if it's us versus them, there's no reason to put our soldiers in harms way when we don't have to. Modern warfare technology is our “sling of David” and we need to use it judiciously.
What would you do? Sit around the campfire singing come-by-y’all and offer a bite of lamb if they'll quit trying to blow up our buildings? Get real!
Dale Whiting posted at 7:57 pm on Mon, Oct 17, 2011.
I remember sitting in a conference room with about a 100 other brand new 2nd Lieutenants in 1972 to listen to General William Westmoreland talk to senior officers about the need to show trust and confidence in us new guys. He observed that soon we would be seeing push button warfare. Few understood what he meant. However being a radio control airplane enthusiast, I understood him well. Where one is not placed in harms way in waging war, one takes inhuman and illegal actions. That was illustrated by the Wikileaks video.
Why Westmoreland thought trust and confidence would make any difference remains a mystery.
Pushing buttons to wage war is indecent. And the US is the world's most prominent button pushers. That is real terrorism! Forget the F-35's. Let's stop being the worlds most prominent terrorists!
sockratties posted at 8:19 am on Mon, Oct 17, 2011.
If we're going to have war, it's going to cost money. Limiting your soldiers with a check book will only get them killed. The challenge is to get the most bang for your buck.
Drones are large expensive aircraft that are limited in their missions. They have been shot down by surface to air missiles, fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft fire. About half of total loses have been due to equipment failure and weather. These are difficult problems for a remote operator to solve.
Unmanned hunter-killer aircraft (drones) currently deployed by the U.S. Military include the Predator MQ-1, built by San Diego based General Atomics at a unit cost of $11.5 million, the Reaper MQ-9 at a unit cost of $31 million, and the Avenger at a cost of about $45 million each.
Predators are powered by small Rotax engines which are manufactured in Austria by a company that makes engines for snowmobiles and other recreational equipment. The Predator can carry 2 Lockheed Martin Hellfire air to ground missiles which each cost $70,000.
Reapers are powered with Turbo-prop engines that increase altitude, payload and range. The Reaper is armed with up to 14 Hellfire missiles and 2 Laser guided 500 lb. bombs that cost $20,000 each.
The Avenger has a fan-jet engine and is stealthier than the Reaper, carries the payload internally and includes sophisticated detection systems including air to air capabilities.
All three aircraft work in squadrons of four with a control center and satellite links. They have many practical uses and don't put pilots in harm's way, but they are not yet capable of air to air combat with modern piloted fighter aircraft.
Maybe someday, but not now.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:11 am on Sun, Oct 16, 2011.
What our Letter writer failed to disclose was that all of these "jobs" that he refers to are ...."Union" jobs.
Yup, good old Democrat-voting ...."Union" jobs.
Cadillac Health Care, Hospitalization, Vision Care and Dental Care for the..."Union" member his wife or partner and their children to age 21yo in most cases. Who pays for all of these ...."Gold-Plated" benefits.......the hardworking American Tax-payer does when all of these costs are added to the actual cost of the...F-35.
Ask yourself this...just where are we going to use a $100 Million Dollar jet fighter ???
Iraq is kicking all the American Military out. Afghanistan is "going to be" kicking all the American Military out in 2-3 years. Will we go to war with Iran...no way...the Middle-East would explode and what is America, Europe and the World going to do when Iran destroys Saudi Arabian, Omani, Arab Emirates and Bahrainian Oil Fields and infrastructure with their missiles ???
So where will we use this $100 Million dollar fighter in North Korea, in Commuist China, in Russia ? I know they can fly back and forth over the Mexico-America border (should take them 5 minutes at most) and detect all the drug back-pack carrying Illegal Aliens. That should end up costing $5000.00 in just jet fuel costs alone.
We have more missles that the gray hairs in Obama's head. We have drones that can pin-point a target to 3 feet. These drones cost a few thousands only.
America, we ar bankrupt. We are printed money that has less than 40% of the value that is shown in the corners. It's time to cut the Military-Industrial Complex's ... umbilical cord. America can't afford the planes, can't afford the technicians, can't afford the support logistics, can't afford the jet fuel and can't even afford the pilots anymore.
We are in a ..."$15 Trillion Dollar Deficit Hole".......it's time to stop digging !!!
sockratties posted at 6:59 am on Sat, Oct 15, 2011.
It’s wrong to think of military strategy as a jobs program.
The criteria should be; (1) will it perform the mission? (2) is it a good return on investment? (3) is the benefit worth the cost?
In this case all three answers are “NO!”
Ultimately, the right airplane, at the right price will create jobs. This airplane, at this price is a military boondoggle supported by congress to placate constituents. It was underwater before it got off the ground.
We are supporting a strategy created by politicians as a one size fits all aircraft that has so many compromises it can’t do anything well except line the pockets of the promoters. It would be less expensive to send employees a weekly check than to build an airplane that is already obsolete and inferior to its competition. We will be sending our pilots into a gunfight with an expensive cap pistol.
This aircraft will be our first TRILLION DOLLAR military weapons system. As the aircraft becomes more expensive less units will be sold outside of the U.S. The cost per aircraft, although guess-timated at about $70 million each can be expected to be over $110 million. Overall cost calculations include projected sales of over half of the aircraft being sold to other countries although no sales have been made and no contracts have been signed.
Then add on operating and maintenance costs. Although the F-35 promoters claimed lower operating costs, the Navy has calculated that the cost to operate F-35Cs will exceed the $19,000 per hour of the AV-8 by over 60%. Expect an hourly operating cost of over $30,000! Maintenance alone will be about 1/3 more. This does not include the cost of the airborne early warning and in-flight refueling fleet that are required to support it.
Computer simulations indicate that the F-35 will be consistently defeated by the Russian-made SU-35 fighter aircraft. The scenario also shows the loss of the F-35's supporting airborne-early warning and air-to-air refueling aircraft. Once we field an inferior aircraft it can be even more expensive to play catch-up. We did that in Korea when the Russians introduced their Mig-15 fighters which were superior to our F-84 Thunderjets. We then had to develop the F-86 Sabre which could do the job.
A recently introduced Russian T-50 PAK-FA stealthy fighter is expected to have higher performance and carry more air-to-air missiles than the F-35. The technology in the SU-35 will also see its way into growth upgrades of other SU-fighter variants used by countries like Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. Chinese versions of these aircraft will also see similar growth capability in the coming years.
Dale Whiting posted at 6:09 pm on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
"Beware of the military-industrial complex!" Dwight David Eisenhower.
truth posted at 2:58 pm on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
No plan will work, if the economy improves the oil companies will raise the price on fuel, stagnating the economy again. Corporations will only outsource more jobs, all corporations are on super greed mode. Some would like us to belive tax breaks will create more jobs. Corporations are paying 4.5 % federal tax or paying no taxes at all but receiving billions in tax refunds. Corporations are sitting on over 2 trillion dollars and are unable to benefit from THEIR profit with out paying taxes which they are trying to avoid. Want jobs ? be willing to work for third world wages without benefits then you will have jobs.
Accuracy posted at 11:57 am on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
It's a Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter supersonic aircraft.
The Pentagon is looking to cut about $450 billion from its budgets over the next 10 years; Congress could hand down additional reductions. A prime target is the troubled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a supersonic plane with a program cost approaching $400 billion. The F-35 Lightning II assembly line for the Air Force, Marines and Navy, is at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Fort Worth, Texas.
Some estimates suggest the actual cost, with scandalous cost overruns, could exceed $1 trillion over 50 years. "The first trillion-dollar weapons system in history," stated U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. But has stopped short of saying the program should be canceled.