There is a saying in English:
Jack of all trades, master of none
The situation with F35 is exactly that.
Fantastic piece of technology. Marvellous specifications on paper regarding Stealth and Combat performance.
But when it comes to reality there are far too many chinks in the armour of this bird to be viable as a good dependable fighting machine.
It all stems from far too many requirements and expectations that are demanded from one plane and one airframe.
1. It has to be stealth
2. It has to carry lots of ammunition
3. It has to have spacious internal weapon bays
4. It’s sensor array and electronics has to be state of the art
5. It has to have a powerful Aesa radar
6. It has to have an electro optical sensor (IRST equivalent)
7. It has to be structurally sound to take off/land on carriers
8. It has to be able to have VSTOL capability
9. It has to be cheap enough for large sales
10. It has to have more efficient maintenance performance
11. It must have a single powerful engine.
etc etc etc
In short it needs to be versatile enough to be in 3 different guises : A, B and C versions.
To make it user and maintenance friendly, they introduced ALIS which created more problems than ever. It actually compromised many partner nations’ secret flight information data. They have since introduced ODIN system. But that too has chinks in it. The notion of information transfer to and fro between plane and manufacturer is more than troublesome. But totally unacceptable.
An engine the diameter of f110 but about a meter longer, weighing 140kg less to develop 11000lbf more dry and wet thrust is very demanding. Hence the engine problems!
In a way, for us, it has been a blessing in disguise that we have been kicked out of this program. Otherwise we too would be struggling with all the shortcomings that the current operators are dealing with.
It is a shame that we are excluded from all the technical aspects of the plane’s upgrading work. But thanks to BAE Systems input we are still in touch with new developments. Thus it is imperative that we keep our cooperation active with the UK company.
Luckily having experienced the troubles and struggles first hand, BAE Systems will, hopefully, take necessary steps that the same doesn’t occur in TFX.
Also since TFX is the culmination of all good and bad experiences lived through F35s, and produced as such, and it is primarily an air dominance jet with secondary job as ground attack capability, we shouldn’t have as many problems.
After all TFX will be more like a slightly smaller and streamlined F22 than an F35.
