F35 display cancelled at Farnborough.

[brianw999]

The much vaunted F35 multi-role Jack-of-all-Trades ... Master-of-None F35 appearance at the Farnborough air show has been cancelled. The F35 has just been cleared for very limited testing within a tight flight envelope following an engine incident last month.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/13/uk-airshow-britain-f-idUKKBN0FI0NK20140713

And to think that we took the Harrier out of service to be replaced by this poor performing piece of crap !

[Peter Kesternich]

I must admit that I don't follow the military aviation scene all that closely, but what I have read about the F-35 (mostly on wikipedia and in an article on Smithsonian Air&Space) makes me wonder if this thing will ever be put into frontline service.

Why are so many nations going for that plane? From what I have seen so far, it can't be because of the specs and performance. So it must be political/economical. I really wonder why a country like the Netherlands or Norway need the F-35. The should have gone with the Gripen (or the Typhoon or the Rafale or even the SuperHornet) and they would have excellent aircraft right now at the fraction of the price and with much more proven combat capability (with the exception of the Gripen, which I believe hasn't been used in anger yet).

[Peter Kesternich]

And it doesn't even look good

[ErwinS]

Great to see a Spanish Harrier in the display at Farnborough. Salt in the wounds :-p

[TeeVee]

kinda serves us right. we ask for one plane that does everything and the impossible, and what we get is an aircraft that can't do anything. you want cheap? well you got a big hole in your wallet and nothing to show for it.

[jarod]

It was the right decision to take. It is better to do not use this aircraft in such complicate envelope and flight. If it is going to experience any problem or even worse crash, it is the end of this project.

[Peter Kesternich]

It was the right decision to take. It is better to do not use this aircraft in such complicate envelope and flight. If it is going to experience any problem or even worse crash, it is the end of this project.

Hellooo??? This is what this aircraft was supposedly designed to do. After billions of dollars and several years of design and development, it still can't perform at an airshow? Why are governments still pouring money into it? It's not like there are no alternative aircraft on the market. I'm only happy that my country (and my tax-Euros) are not involved.

[elaw]

After billions of dollars and several years of design and development, it still can't perform at an airshow? Why are governments still pouring money into it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SLG-4cetz8

[turbo1982]

The STOVL version is allegedly the least capable.

[turbo1982]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SLG-4cetz8

Says it all really.

[Black Ram]

I think it will be a very good plane. There have been issues, but it's been getting much better. They are loosening up the flight envelope restrictions and the plane looks pretty impressive and agile. Countries want the versatility, stealth, sensor integration, avionics, range etc. A fighter aircraft is not something made for the crowds to cheer on, but something designed to carry out missions. Evidently, the F-35 is more capable than conventional jets, though there are some great jet fighters out there that would work for many countries. I think there has been a lot of negative propaganda against this plane. My favorite is RT's interviews with Pierre Sprey, who supposedly designed the F-16 (though he didn't, he doesn't even hold a degree in engineering, and he has made some other very dumb "evaluations" of modern weapons systems that claim they are worthless compared to legacy weapons systems). I don't think a country like Israel would buy a military airplane for political reasons. Getting El Al to go all Boeing is one thing, but I don't see Israel risking it with a plane that "does not work", investing in it, and getting the US to guarantee no other country in the region gets the plane.

[mahtab20]

it seems "F-22 Raptor" is more effective than F-53