Siguen los problemas con la copia del Ruso Yak 141. ¡Perdón! el F-35.

Pentagon Kills EFV, Puts F-35B on Probation

By JOHN T. BENNETT
Published: 6 Jan 2011 17:20 defensenews

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Jan. 6 announced internal cost-cutting efforts will allow it to largely offset a $78 billion White House funding reduction - though Army and Marine Corps troop cuts will help absorb that blow.

During a mid-afternoon Pentagon news briefing held hours after he met with congressional defense leaders, Gates also moved to terminate the Marine Corps' next-generation amphibious troop hauler, but said the service will build a more-suitable vehicle. And he announced yet another restructuring of the embattled F-35 fighter program, placing the technically challenged vertical take-off-and-landing variant on a two-year probation and making it the last of three models to hit production. The Army also killed its SLAMRAAM and NLOS programs.

Gates said the White House would propose a DoD base budget of about $553 billion in 2012, which is about $13 billion less than projected in last year's five-year spending plan. But it would also be, in real terms, about 3 percent higher than 2011 spending under the current continuing resolution and about 1.5 percent higher than the Appropriations Committees 2011 defense bills.

Gates told reporters the White House reduction proves the days of "endless money" flowing into Pentagon weapon programs are long gone. If DoD wants more money for procurement and development, it will have to squeeze it from elsewhere in its budget, he said.

"There won't be any more money for these programs coming in from outside," he said.

Gates said the White House's decision to cut $78 billion over five years won't keep the military from doing what leaders expect it will have to do. He said $54 billion would come from DoD-wide overhead reductions and efficiencies, including a freeze on government civilian salaries; about $14 billion from lower interest rates and other economic shifts since last year's plan was formulated; $6 billion in troop cuts for the Army and Marine Corps; and $4 billion from slower purchases and lower prices for F-35 combat aircraft.

But the secretary and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen both warned against deeper annual funding cuts. Mullen said that more cuts would hurt national security.

EFV

Gates' decision to ax the Marines' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) program ended years of speculation that its technical troubles would one day lead it to the budgetary chopping block.

Gates has said that the EFV's seemingly endless and complicated requirements led to "an 80,000-pound vehicle" costly enough to swallow much of the service's weapon-acquisition budget.

What's more, the secretary said during a lengthy opening statement, new Navy and Marine Corps analyses show that mixing existing and planned air and sea platforms with a new amphibious vehicle - armed with lesser but still highly capable combat systems - would allow the Corps to conduct anti-access missions from the sea.

Some in recent months have said the EFV debate might give Pentagon leaders an opening to dramatically alter the Marine Corps. But Gates said killing the program "does not call into question" the mission or need for the amphibious service. The Marines already are budgeting for a more suitable - and cheaper - amphibious vehicle program, as well as building in funds to upgrade and re-engine its existing Amphibious Assault Vehicles, Gates said.

The decision to place the STOVL variant of the F-35 on probation was made because fixing technical problems might add weight and delay production.

If those fixes cannot be made in two years, "then I believe it should be canceled," Gates said. He also altered the F-35 production schedule, making the Marines' STOVL variant the last to be produced. As a hedge, the Navy will buy more F/A-18E/F fighters, he announced.

Gates declared the conventionally launched and carrier-based variants are "performing satisfactorily" in testing.

Efficiencies

Gates last year launched efforts to reduce unneeded organizations, staffs and weapons, aiming to find $100 billion in savings that the military services could put toward procurement.

Pentagon officials said the drive actually saved some $150 billion: the Army found $29 billion, the Air Force unearthed $34 billion, and the Navy Department found $35 billion in savings over the next five years. U.S. Special Operations Command found about $2 billion.

Along with the EFV and Army program terminations, the services and DoD agencies took a number of steps, including: paring staffs, eliminating redundant organizations and headquarters, consolidating e-mail data centers, eliminating positions, driving down construction costs, and other moves. The Navy terminated its 2nd Fleet, and will shift some essential functions to Fleet Forces Command.

The remaining $50 billion in savings was generated by a companion DoD-wide effort to find savings.

Each service already has plans for the freed-up monies.

The Air Force will redirect its funds to relaunch an effort to field a new bomber aircraft, with officials saying it will be nuclear-capable. Gates said the service will pursue a bomber that could be flown by a pilot in the cockpit or remotely. The secretary told reporters the new bomber would be built using "proven technologies" to ensure it is delivered "on schedule and on quantity."

Additionally, the air service will buy more EELV launch vehicles to place into orbit U.S. military and government satellites, a move Gates said will help sustain the U.S. space industrial base.

Also planned are more Reaper UAVs, F-15 fighter radar upgrades and F-35 fighter simulators. The savings also will allow the air service to begin buying some ISR planes in its annual budget, rather than war funding bills.

With its savings, the Army will modernize some of its Abrams, Stryker and other combat vehicles. It also will buy more Reapers as well as more Predator UAVs. The ground service plans to purchase more MC-12 surveillance aircraft, begin development of another unmanned aircraft, and field a net tactical communications network.

The Navy intends to use its savings to buy more ships, including one additional littoral combat ship, an extra destroyer, an ocean surveillance ship and fleet oilers. It also will buy additional F/A-18E/F fighters.

Sea service officials will also apply some of the funds to extending the life of 150 F/A-18s as a hedge against potential further delays in the F-35 program. It also will begin developing new strike and ISR-gathering aircraft.

The Marines' freed-up funds will allow the Corps to repair and refurbish war-worn equipment.

The efficiencies effort also will help offset unplanned-for expenses that creep up every year for things like fuel costs, maintenance, health care and training - a collective $28 billion bill that officials said would have forced them to dip into hardware programs to pay.

Pentagon officials expressed relief at the success of Gates' efficiencies effort. Not only will it allow the services to plow $70 billion into hardware programs, but it also will partially offset a $78 billion cut the White House wanted to apply to the annual Pentagon budget over the next five years. Without the efficiencies dollars, more weapon programs would have been in the budget crosshairs, officials said.

Pentagon officials described an out-years spending plan that shows top line decreases for fiscal 2013 and 2014, with flat top line figures in 2015 and 2016.

Troop Cuts

But the efficiencies savings alone will not be enough to offset the $78 billion cut handed down in recent weeks by White House budget officials as part of the 2012 federal budget. That effort provided $54 billion.

To get completely there, Gates was forced to trim Army and Marine Corps end strength. Also helping out were $6 billion in savings from the cheaper costs of goods due to the sluggish economy, as well as $4 billion in savings spawned from last year's price changes to a recent batch of the F-35s.

The Army's number of soldiers will fall by 27,000, while the Marine Corps' end strength will be reduced by between 15,000 and 20,000, DoD officials said.

The exact size of the USMC reduction will depend on an end-strength needs review being conducted by new Commandant Gen. Jim Amos.

Those ground force reductions will begin in 2015, with officials stressing that is the time U.S. and Afghanistan officials plan for Afghan security forces to control a good portion of territory in their own nation.

Mullen acknowledged reducing troop numbers inserts risk into plans, but he said it is an "acceptable" amount.

aquiles escribió:Me parece que no es una copia porque primero: los gringos adquirieron su licencia y todo lo que esto conlleva, planos, ingeniería, etc., y segundo: que aun con licencia, planos, ingeniería, etc. no lo han logrado poner a funcionar. Así que no es mas que un intento de asimilar una tecnología para la cual no estaban preparados, quizás en algunos años mas la cabeza les de para lograr por fin copiar la tecnología.

Un informe confidencial norteamericano revela que el F-35C (modelo embarcado), no está en condiciones de aterrizar en portaaviones

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J0SEFERNAND0 escribió:¿y entonces?

Un informe confidencial norteamericano revela que el F-35C (modelo embarcado), no está en condiciones de aterrizar en portaaviones

[Tienes que estar registrado y conectado para ver este vínculo]