Most Expensive Pentagon Weapon Has Problems

For John, BLUF:  Remember when we lost one of the prototype B-17s because someone forgot to remove a "gust lock"?  The Navy version of the F-111 died when Bash Nash crash landed it at NAS Point Magu.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Yesterday's edition of Business Insider has this headline—This Map Explains Why The F-35 Has Turned Into A Trillion-Dollar Fiasco.  The reporters, Jeremy Bender, Armin Rosen and Skye Gould, provide the story.  I expect the headline writer is over the top, but the maps which are the story, tell a tale of economic benefit spread across the nation and across the globe.

I suspect that the F-35 will be like most aircraft developments.  A Lot of learning.  There was an item in Bloomberg yesterday, by Tony Capaccio, on the F-35B having flawed software, which translates into incomplete software for the US Marine Corps version in the area of weapons delivery.  The article is "F-35 Debut Hobbled by Flawed Software, Pentagon Tester Finds".

What is important is what is missing in terms of weapons delivery limitations.

I remember one day, back when I was flying jets, back in about 1987, I found myself flying single ship with an F-16C (Block 30), my wingman having aborted or been MND (Maintenance Non Delivery).  So, I loaded up the Data Transfer Cartridge (DTC, a sort of Memory Stick from Squadron Ops to the Aircraft) to program the (simulated) weapons for the aircraft with M-129 Leaflet Bombs and headed on a pre-planned low level route to do a simulated bombing run on some little village on the North Germany Plain.  I made the run and when I pulled up to toss the [simulated] bombs I got no release light.  I pulled off to the left and ran back down toward the Initial Point (IP), checking everything and everything was fine.  So, I "downloaded" the M-129 Leaflet Bombs and upload a B-61.  I headed back in from the IP toward the village and got a nice release notification as I pulled up and tossed that bomb (in simulation) onto the village.  Showed them!

So, there was no ballistics data in the aircraft computer for the M-129.  But, fortunately, there was for the B-61.  The B-61 being our primary variable yield nuclear weapon on the base to which the aircraft and pilot were assigned.  The last time I had dropped M-129s for real was in 1966, over North Viet-nam.

So, it depends on what is not included.  We don't know.

Regards  —  Cliff