Air Power
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) or Lightning II, the military’s next-generation fighter designed for bombing and air-to-air combat, is one of the most ambitious aircraft programs ever. It is a huge international program involving eight international partners or participants, each one contributing varying amounts to the development phase and cost of the program and each one intending to eventually procure a number of these aircraft.
It is also the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program thus far.
I have written extensively about it for the past two years, but have recently given it and another expensive and controversial weapons program, the (now cancelled) F-22 Raptor fighter, short shrift.
The last article I wrote on the F-35 and its predecessor, the F-22, was a year ago.
At that time, according to a Lockheed Martin spokesman, the U.S. still intended to buy 2,443 F-35s, and Britain planned to buy 138 with the seven other nations participating in the F-35 program planning to buy about 700. Today, speculation is that foreign sales will “eventually surpass 2,000 or even 3,000 aircraft.”
Since then, the F-35 program—now with a $382 billion price tag—has seen price increases and extensive schedule delays, with more to come, along with budget battles, intense lobbying, politics at the highest levels and announcements of software, engineering and flight issues.
As there are calls for making huge cuts in the defense budget, the behind schedule, over budget F-35 program is seen by many as a juicy budget-cutting target. Another Pentagon meeting is scheduled for today to review the program as the 2012 budget proposal is being prepared.
This important and costly program certainly merits close monitoring and frequent follow-ups.
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Closely related to the fortunes of the F-22 and F-35 is the quick and amazing rise to prominence, efficacy and vogue of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Playing a major role in such rise is the importance and urgency Secretary of Defense Gates has placed in recent years on the development, production and use of UAVs (Predators, Reapers, Global Hawks, Ravens, Sky Warrior Alphas, etc.) in present and future conflicts and how future “complex, hybrid wars” will be fought and won.
Back in the spring of 2009, the proposed 2010 budget for unmanned vehicles (which includes UAVs) technology was $5.4 billion.
The proposed 2011 Defense budget request includes significant amounts for continued procurement of these vehicles.
The use of armed Predators against Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and in Pakistan tribal areas has dramatically increased since Obama took office and so have reports of civilians being killed and protest by various parties.
Nevertheless, the use of these UAVs is only expected to increase and to continue grabbing the headlines.
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The increased use of UAVs by our military is having some interesting consequences on the “culture” of the U.S. Air Force.
For example. According to C. R. Anderegg, the Air Force historian, “just as the generals of the 1950s and ’60s were predominantly bomber pilots, and the generals of the 1970s and ’80s were mainly fighter pilots, so a lot of the generals in the coming decades may be UAV joystick pilots.”
Another consequence is the shortage of pilots to “fly” these UAVs, especially in view of significant competition between the military and other agencies such as Homeland Security.
So, parents, grandparents, next time you see your 10-year-old child or grandchild engaged in a ferocious dogfight across the skies of some far-off country, keep in mind that you may be looking at the next Air Force UAV pilot.
Politics
In the heat of the presidential elections in November 2008, quadrennial presidential wannabe, Alan Keyes, and others filed suit to stop the California State Secretary from certifying the Electors until documentary proof of Obama’s US citizenship was produced. Others have filed similar suits or legal proceedings.
What is the status of those legal actions?
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Remember that during the height of the Tea Party’s hype this spring we started to hear about “Coffee Party USA,” a grassroots online network, a movement that was supposed to give voice to Americans who wanted to see more civil public discourse and more cooperation in government?
Whatever happened to the Coffee Party?
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During the heat and passion of this summer’s debate on illegal immigration, two Utah state workers allegedly compiled a 29 page list that included the names of 1300 men women and children of Latino descent along with their addresses, phone numbers, workplaces and in some cases social security numbers. The list makers demanded immediate deportation of these people.
Whatever happened to the list makers and to those on the list?
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During the same hot summer months, as Arizona passed into law controversial immigration legislation, there were calls for boycotts of Arizona and Arizona businesses, conventions and conferences in that state.
Whatever happened to those boycotts and did they have any impact on Arizona or the legislation?
Human Interest Stories
What has happened to John Demjanjuk, the alleged murderer of thousands of Jews at the Sobibor concentration camp?
He was deported to Germany in 2009 for trial there.
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What is the status of Dutch Joran van der Sloot’s criminal proceedings in Peru for the alleged killing of Peruvian Stephanie Flores Ramírez, and his possible connection to the disappearances of other women in Peru?
Have there been any new developments in the case of Natalee Holloway’s disappearance in Aruba in 2005?
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What is the present relationship between South Carolina’s governor Mark Sanford and his Argentine mistress, María Belén Shapur?
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How is poor Bernie Madoff doing inside his allegedly plush prison?
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I dedicated an awful lot of electronic ink to the saga of a father trying to get back his son who was kidnapped to and held in a foreign country for five long, painful years: David Goldman and his son Sean Goldman. Sean was reunited with his father on Christmas Eve 2009 in Brazil and flown back to his home in the United States.
How is Sean doing? What has happened to threats by the Brazilian family to attempt to win back custody of Sean?
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“Sudden unexplained acceleration” (SUA) in certain Toyota models—a problem that has been linked to several deaths and injuries—was all over the news at the beginning of the year. As the owner of two Toyotas (a Camry and a Prius), both involved in the subsequent recalls, I was concerned about the problem.
While many experts claim that the SUA issue is just a bunch of hysteria and while Toyota claims that the problem has been resolved by a mechanical modification to the accelerator pedal and by replacing floor mats, this layman still believes that there may also be some electronic issues involved.
Was it all just hype? Has the problem really been fixed?
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Finishing on a lighter note, we all remember how—during this summer’s soccer World Cup—Paul, the German psychic octopus, correctly predicted the outcome of all seven of Germany’s World Cup games plus the Spain-Netherlands finals game.
We also remember the many culinary threats he received from those who did not like his predictions.
While we were told that he was retiring from the oracle business after the World Cup, does anyone know whether Paul is having a happy retirement or whether some soccer fan with a long memory and a short scooping net has turned him into a recipe?
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Thank you for making it till the bitter end.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.