F-35 ett fiasko? Läckta Rand rapporten och annat kul

Two F-35's can blow away 100 anything elses,at one time.
Feel free to go for it.

The multi-million dollar F-35 stealth fighter that the Conservatives want to purchase comes with all the accoutrements of a high-tech aircraft — everything, that is, except an engine.

The DND documents, which outline answers to questions about the F-35, also note that the stealth fighter could be used in a secondary role for search-and-rescue.

It is unclear how much extra the engines will cost or whether there would be additional costs for installing the power plants into the fighters.

In an e-mail late Friday, DND stated that Canada is purchasing the least costly variant of the F-35.

But DND did not provide an explanation about why the government is required to provide the engines.


It also did not provide any details on the price tag of the engines or the cost to install them.

But the e-mail suggested the cost of the engines is included in the overall price.

U.S. defence specialist Winslow Wheeler, who has also raised concerns about the F-35, has warned that the extra cost of an engine could boost the price of an aircraft for Canada to around $148 million.

“If Canada’s government can get an F-35 for the mid-70 million dollars per airplane, well they should sign a contract right now and get it delivered,” said Wheeler, an analyst with the Center for Defense Information in Washington. “Because I can promise you nobody on this earth will ever get a flying F-35 for $75 million per copy. It’s pure fantasy.”

He said the billions of dollars earmarked for the fighter jets have helped delay other more important projects such as the air force’s much-delayed plan to buy fixed wing search and rescue planes.

“The concern here is that the F-35 eats everybody’s else’s lunch and there will be no money left,” said Staples, president of the Rideau Institute. “The search and rescue aircraft are a casualty, so instead we’ll get some supersonic stealth fighter trying to find hikers lost in the woods.”

Fremskrittspartiet, Kristelig Folkeparti og Sosialistisk Venstreparti forlanger nå en detaljert gjennomgang av kostnadene i kampflyprosjektet

Regjeringspartiet SV er klare på at Stortinget ikke har gitt et endelig ja til kjøp av kampflyet F-35 Lightning II. Parlamentarisk leder Bård Vegar Solhjell sier til VG at det er viktig med en kritisk gjennomgang av prosjektet.

– Jeg tror det er riktig at vi på et tidspunkt stopper opp, og går nøye gjennom tallmaterialet, sier Solhjell til VG.

I Fremskrittspartiet er man klare på at det trengs en ny runde om kostnadene. Etter planen skal Stortinget i 2014 bevilge pengene til kjøp av 52 kampfly. I fjor anslo man en kostnad på 42 milliarder kroner.

– Stortinget har sagt ja til noe man ikke har sett sluttregningen på. Det er mest hensiktsmessig å ta en full runde på om vi skal kjøpe flyene. Også med tanke på å legge press på amerikanerne for å sikre flere industrikontrakter, sier Øyvind Korsberg (Frp).