So. What do we know about the "Aurora" spyplane?

F35 joint strike fighter. 150 billion over budget, now canceled.

 

What's a billion dollars among friends....

U.S. Air Force Blows $1 Billion on Failed ERP Project - IEEE Spectrum

 

Really? Cancelled when?

 

No, of course not. Marines will reach IOC in the next year or so.

 

Hazarding a guess he meant the F-22.

 

Wasn't cancelled either.

 

??? - Senate Kills Funds for F-22 Fighters - WSJ

But I don't care to play semantics, I'm only pointing out what I think the poster was trying to say. Clearly, the F35 was not cancelled.

 

We only got 187 F-22s when we wanted 732, so that certainly counts as a production cancellation. McCain has done more to hurt the USAF than any host of other players. He helped cut the B-2 from 132 to 20/22, too. One reason we are now developing a new strategic strike aircraft.

 

Thanks for clarifying. I am aware of McCain's involvement - I won't go P&R here, but it's clear he needs to go.

 

He is not going anywhere, he will be the new chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

 

Sorry!! Yes F-22. For some reason I get the two confused all the time.

 

Only cool thing I know about them is that seismologists clock their speeds pretty accurately.

 

Please do not take this personally...

BUT...

you or I's knowledge of this particular subject would not change the outcome of the project for the greater. It would just be one more subject to turn into argumentative government cannon fodder.

They have engineers, accountants, and the most experienced military personal/strategist deciding if these black projects are worth pursing or not regardless of price.

We can only be thankful that they stopped at 30 billion and not 50 billion or 31 billion for that matter.

Also, I don't believe in complete blind trust which my previous sentences could be construed as. Obviously there has to be some sort of check and balance

Don't get me wrong... I would LOVE to know about all of the cool military tech that is being developed as well as being canceled. Common mans knowledge of this would not only be a massive threat to national security, a major mistake in staying on top militarily/strategically BUT would also be a major distraction because this crap would be run in the news and people would complain that we tried to develop some crazy contraption for war when would could have been saving the spotted owl or fighting ebola, or spending it on carbon credits etc... etc... People are short sighted. These people in these programs are supposed to be dreaming of the next big thing, the next frontier, the next next next threat to our country and we pay them dearly to protect us.

I apologize for the rant

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf"

 

You left out the most important determining factor...which are politics, which takes precedance over the rest of what you have mentioned, including cost....

"They have engineers, accountants, and the most experienced military personal/strategist deciding if these black projects are worth pursing or not regardless of price."

 

I agree to a very large extent. But... Most of our lovely politicians have ZERO access to these truly black projects.

The rest of this post is speculative...

I wonder how much of the publicly known or made known military contracts are really just BS made up to make it seems as if a particular politician is getting things done all the while the money is really just refunded into a black program or just cannon fodder/ publicity stunt. I guess the likely hood of knowing the answer to this question is as likely as being personally brought up to speed on all Black programs.

 

A classic example of technology changing the requirements is Jimmy Carter's cancellation of the B1. Knew about the stealth work and deemed it obsolete. Couldn't say why, but it was. I know they fixed it up under Reagan, but it would be totally useless against a near technological equal.

Without knowing what is going on with weapons development, you really can't make a decision that makes sense, so sometimes these arguments are a waste of time.

I wonder why the F22 production run was reduced. What did they know that they aren't telling us?

Art