70% Or More Of F-35s May Not Be Combat-Capable

[rangerrebew]

70% Or More Of F-35s May Not Be Combat-Capable
 
BY TYLER DURDEN
SUNDAY, MAR 17, 2024 - 08:10 AM
Authored by Mike Fredenburg via The Epoch Times,

A September 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the F-35 revealed some shocking statistics on just how unready hundreds of billions of dollars worth of F-35s are to provide actual combat power. In fact, the report indicated that only 15 to 30 percent of F-35s may be capable of combat.
 
But if you were to read a typical article in the media, you might believe that, on average, some 55 percent of F-35s are combat-capable. However,  you would be wrong. You see, when the average person sees a report declaring that 55 percent of F-35 combat aircraft are “mission capable,” they assume mission capable equals combat capable. But in doing so, they are being deceived.

The deception comes out of how the F-35 program office and the whole of the Department of Defense define “mission capable.” It turns out that the DoD definition of “mission capable” does not mean combat capable. What it means is that an aircraft can fly and perform at least one mission. So, a plane designated as mission capable might be capable of doing some type of combat, but it might not. Instead, the mission it might be capable of executing could be testing or training, or some other mission that does not involve combat. And even if it is considered capable of testing or training, it might not be capable of doing the full gamut of testing or training you would expect from a fully functional aircraft. Likewise, it could still be classified as mission capable even if it is only capable of executing a portion of the combat-type missions it is supposed to be able to perform.

Hence, within the environs of the military–industrial–congressional complex, “mission capable” is a highly ambiguous term that allows for a whole lot of gaming of accountability metrics. And it tells us very little. Still, it is worth noting that at a 55 percent mission capable rate, the F-35 fleet is well below program targets of 90 percent for the F-35A (Air Force) and 85 percent for the fighter’s F-35B (Marine Corps) and F-35C (Navy) variants. In other words, the F-35 fleet as a whole is nowhere near meeting its mission capability goal of being able to do anything at all.

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/70-or-more-f-35s-may-not-be-combat-capable

[rangerrebew]

Yet generals a working hard to get rid of aircraft that have a history of working.

[Smokin Joe]

All the Gee Whiz stuff in the world isn't worth a tinker's dam if it doesn't work.

Even the most advanced weapons systems in the world can be overwhelmed by more basic systems, especially if the latter work. The Tiger Tank, which while superior, had its downtime problems, vs overwhelming numbers of Sherman tanks, lost.

We may be in a position to learn the same lesson.

[DefiantMassRINO]

All the more reason the Armed Forces want to excelerate their retirement of previous air superiority air platforms.

The F-35 procurement syndicate doesn't want the military to have proven, reliable alternatives to fail back upon.

The US Military is burning the F-15's, F-16's, F-18's, F-22's, A-10 Warthogs, etc., so there can be no turning away from the F-35's.

[SZonian]

This isn't exclusive to F35s.

Might be a bunch of Wing Commanders and Maintenance Chiefs getting "reassigned" soon.

Those jokers need to inflate the "MC (Mission Capable) rates" to show how effective they are in order to attain the next rank.

I'll give you an example; An F16 without its engine installed is NMC (Non-Mission Capable). However, that same F16 with the replacement engine positioned behind it, with about 10-12 hours of work still remaining to complete the install is FMC (Fully Mission Capable).

"How does that work?" you may ask. Simple.  They say that because the engine installation can be completed in less than 24 hrs., about the amount of time we used to get to generate for a deployment, it counts as "FMC".

[DefiantMassRINO]

Sure, airplanes on the ground will have 24 hours notice of attack from Russian or Chi-com hypersonic missiles.

[Fishrrman]

"70% Or More Of F-35s May Not Be Combat-Capable..."

First thing that came to mind were these lyrics from Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited":

Well, Mack the Finger said to Louie the King
"I got forty red-white-and-blue shoestrings
And a thousand telephones that don't ring
Do you know where I can get rid of these things?"
And Louie the King said, "Let me think for a minute, son"
Then he said, "Yes, I think it can be easily done
Just take everything down to Highway 61"


And, for the Ukraine fans, these bonus lyrics:

Now, the roving gambler he was very bored
Trying to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said, "I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes, I think it can be very easily done
We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on Highway 61"