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Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II development - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Originally designed as a single plane for 3 branches of the military (Air Force, Marines, Navy), it became 3 planes.
- F35A Air Force: no harrier-like jumpjet technology. Replaces the F117 Nighthawk bomber, A10 WartHog close air support, and F16 Falcon(?)
- F35B Marines: new Jumpjet tech to replace the old harrier tech. Replaces the Harrier jet that costs $39M each
- F35C Navy: no jumpjet tech, increased wingspan/fuel and upgraded heavy duty landing gear. Replaces the F18 Super Hornet that costs $37M each
This plane started last century.
27years later, it's finally out of the development phase and into the mass production phase.
years delayed/overdue with major cost overruns.
In 2010, Pentagon officials disclosed that the F-35 program had exceeded its original cost estimates by more than 50 percent. (Original estimates in 2001 were $50M each.
Despite being intended to share most of their parts to reduce costs and improve maintenance logistics, by 2017 the design commonality was only 20%.
since it was split into 3 planes, it would have been cheaper for each branch to develop their own planes.
edit:
updated with prices of the planes the F35 are replacing.
the older planes cost 1/3 the price for Marines/Navy version!!!
and i cant see the F35 being a great replacement for the A10 Warthog.
also, not to mention that the A10 is one of the cheapest planes to operate at $5000/hr.
the F35 costs $44k/hr to operate!
so much for the cost savings that was at the heart of this project when it began in the 1990s.
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