Post by Admin on Nov 4, 2023 9:16:45 GMT -5
POGO
Pentagon leaders sold the concept of the F-35 to Congress and the American people by saying it would be an affordable replacement for the F-16 in the air supremacy role and the A-10 in the close air support role. Nearly 22 years later, the notion of the F-35 as an affordable replacement for any program has long-since been shattered. Serious questions remain as to whether the unreliable F-35 can be an effective replacement for the successful F-16. As for close air support, questions remain about the F-35’s ability to fill the A-10’s role, and a report detailing the results of comparative tests conducted in 2018 and 2019 between the two programs, obtained with a great deal of effort by the Project On Government Oversight, casts even more doubt on the matter.
POGO received a copy of the “F-35A and A-10C Comparison Test” report through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and subsequent litigation after the original request in April 2022 went unanswered.
he results were apparently not what the Air Force’s leaders expected, because they fought to hide them completely for years. The Pentagon’s testing office only drafted the report in February 2022, nearly three years after the tests concluded, and even now they are refusing to disclose many of the key findings: The released report is heavily redacted. Still, the information they did release does not paint a very positive picture of the F-35’s ability to fill the highly critical role the A-10 has performed capably in the United States’ last three major ground wars.
From the fragmentary information now available, it is clear the Air Force’s plan to replace the A-10’s capabilities will come up short. Yet Congress is on the cusp of authorizing the retirement of 42 A-10s in the next fiscal year, a decision they are making in an information vacuum since the report has not been widely circulated.
Continues...
Pentagon leaders sold the concept of the F-35 to Congress and the American people by saying it would be an affordable replacement for the F-16 in the air supremacy role and the A-10 in the close air support role. Nearly 22 years later, the notion of the F-35 as an affordable replacement for any program has long-since been shattered. Serious questions remain as to whether the unreliable F-35 can be an effective replacement for the successful F-16. As for close air support, questions remain about the F-35’s ability to fill the A-10’s role, and a report detailing the results of comparative tests conducted in 2018 and 2019 between the two programs, obtained with a great deal of effort by the Project On Government Oversight, casts even more doubt on the matter.
POGO received a copy of the “F-35A and A-10C Comparison Test” report through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and subsequent litigation after the original request in April 2022 went unanswered.
he results were apparently not what the Air Force’s leaders expected, because they fought to hide them completely for years. The Pentagon’s testing office only drafted the report in February 2022, nearly three years after the tests concluded, and even now they are refusing to disclose many of the key findings: The released report is heavily redacted. Still, the information they did release does not paint a very positive picture of the F-35’s ability to fill the highly critical role the A-10 has performed capably in the United States’ last three major ground wars.
From the fragmentary information now available, it is clear the Air Force’s plan to replace the A-10’s capabilities will come up short. Yet Congress is on the cusp of authorizing the retirement of 42 A-10s in the next fiscal year, a decision they are making in an information vacuum since the report has not been widely circulated.
Continues...