British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left on during launch

Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by jollybean on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @03:30PM (#29334762)

They are not morons. These things happen all the time.

The issue is the fact that whereas in 1945 fighters cost about as much as a few 'fancy cars', fighters are now 200 homes. Of course, they should be thought of as 'flying weapons platforms' ... but still.

$16M F16 would be one thing, but a $120M piece of kit ... that hurts.

I'm wondering how well the 'downgraded' variations of F18++ or 'some new fighter' will fill the gap or if Boeing can make a 'cheap F35'.

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Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by nradov on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @03:46PM (#29334924)

The F-18 is totally incapable of operating from UK Royal Navy carriers. There are no serious plans to build some new manned fixed wing VSTOL fighter. The F-35B will be the only available option for the next 20+ years.

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Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by jollybean on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @07:52PM (#29337070)

If they had to build Harriers, they could. I wonder what 1970s Harriers, with upgraded comms, radar and weapons would be like? Maybe 'good enough' in a lot of situations. If they didn't spend 20 years integrating some overly complicated 'Meatverse Helmet' etc. i.e. they took a 'build it now' wartime footing ... I wonder what they could build ...

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Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by nradov on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @08:07PM (#29337163)

No they couldn't build new Harriers. The production line was shut down years ago. The supply chain for many critical components no longer even exists. The production workers with essential knowledge have mostly retired. It would take many years to try to recreate, and at this point it would actually be more expensive than just buying more F-35B's.

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Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by missedthecue on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @06:03PM (#29336241)

The US did make over 15,000 P-51 mustangs, so there were some economies of scale playing in their favor.

Not that an F-35 could ever cost $600,000 like a P-51 but it is worth noting I think.

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Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by mhh__ on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @06:06PM (#29336268)

A current gen F-16 actually costs fairly similar to an F-35, if sold to the Israelis at least.

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Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by B1FF_PSUVM on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @06:27PM (#29336433)

> sold to

Isn't that one of those "circular economy" things? As in "Here, we're giving you X amount in defense aid, and you're buying from us Y things with it."

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Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by mhh__ on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @06:43PM (#29336588)

Quite possibly, but my point is that a modern F-16 is not this buy-one-get-one-free bargain implied by the comments on any F-35 article.

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Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by B1FF_PSUVM on Thursday November 25, 2021 @06:39AM (#29340471)

Agreed, but under the circumstances a high price sticker also makes everything look better ...

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Re:British F-35B crash possibly caused by 'rain cover' left ... by hasdf on Wednesday November 24, 2021 @05:42PM (#29336047)

to my understanding the f35 is actually pretty price competitive with other offerings. The price keeps going down as more and more are sold

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