US requirement: Buy falling F-35s instead of reliable Su-35s
You cannot envy the friendly tandem compiled by the American corporation Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon for the development of sky-high sums from the US state budget. As soon as they declared their intentions to “make happy” with their beloved brainchild - the most expensive F-35 fighter-bomber in the history of mankind, allies of the United States almost all over the globe, the fatal accident once again intervened, breaking the tale of “the best fighting in the world by plane. " However, it must be assumed that the “sweet couple”, who continues to pump astronomical amounts into a project that looks increasingly doubtful, is not discouraged - after all, Washington always has its favorite methods of “persuasion” - threats, blackmail and intimidation.
The fall into the Pacific Ocean in the area of Aomori Prefecture of the F-35 fighter of Japan, which took off with a pair of the same vehicles from the Misawa air base for the most ordinary training flight, was another episode that cast doubt on the fighting qualities of this “miracle” equipment". Hopes that the fighter pilot, who reported that he was forced to interrupt the training task a few seconds before the disappearance of the aircraft from the radar, survived, practically no longer exists. But only recently the Land of the Rising Sun proudly announced that the first F-35A squadron "reached the initial level of combat readiness." And it was just about the unit stationed on Misawa ...
Moreover, Tokyo expressed its firm intention to acquire from its wonderful allies another 157 “unsurpassed fifth-generation fighters” - and, of these, 42 of them should have already been F-35V models - with vertical take-off. These aircraft were to become carrier-based aircraft on Izumo class helicopter carriers in Japan. And now - such an affront. According to reports, to date, all F-35 flights are stopped on Misawa - until the causes of the disaster are clarified. The United Kingdom also announced a “status review” of its seventeen F-35Bs. But this country was going to buy 138 of these aircraft. No less uncomfortable than the British and Japanese, the closest neighbors of the latter, the pilots of South Korea, certainly feel themselves. At their Chengchu military base, there are so far only two F-35As that have arrived there recently. Deliveries of eight more fighter jets are expected before the end of this year, and in total South Korea has “swung” to buy 40 such aircraft. This "pleasure" will cost its taxpayers $ 7 billion. That's just the question - is it worth it?
Not so long ago, quite interesting facts became public in the United States: it turns out that Washington intends to sell its "miracle weapon", as they say, to everyone. And for those who do not want to - it is very persistent to explain the vital necessity of such a purchase for "national security interests." This became known from the materials submitted to the House of Representatives of the US Congress by Vice Admiral Matthias Winter, who oversees the F-35 creation program at the Pentagon. According to those, in addition to Australia, Britain, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, South Korea and Japan, which already have these aircraft in service, the United States intends to foist them on Spain, Greece, Singapore, as well as Poland and Romania. As a matter of fact, the corresponding package of documents necessary for the approval of these transactions was sent to Congress.
The Buy American program, which was proclaimed by Donald Trump, which envisages extreme liberalization of the rules for American arms exports and the state’s full support for such, is essentially nothing more than a plan to maximize the displacement from the world arms markets of any products other than those produced by the military US industrial complex. And the fact that the “nail” of this, frankly, very distant from the rules of fair competition, was the F-35, is also not surprising. According to Trump himself, since the start of this project, at least 400 billion dollars from the US state budget have already gone into it. The cost of one such "toy" is estimated in a "fork" of 160-180 million dollars - but this is without armament and accounting for maintenance costs. The blue dream of the Pentagon and the White House is to bring the F-35 fleet of various modifications in the world to at least 3000 units. With such an enormous scope Lockheed Martin promises to "try" to reduce the price to 80 million per car. Real pennies ...
The open question, however, remains the question: who will buy these fighters worth its weight in gold (in the truest sense of the word!) In such insane quantities ?! Countries participating in the program to create the F-35 acquire it, albeit with a scratch. True, there is no grandeur - Turkey, there, rested. In no way does he want to change to the “most modern fighter” the Russian S-400 Triumph air defense systems. Neither promises nor threats help. Is it weird? Or is it natural? A catastrophe in the Pacific is not the first F-35 crash, as some media have already hurried to write, but the first crashed plane sent for export, but is it the last? By the way, according to the Japanese Air Force, a 40-year-old fighter pilot could hardly have been the culprit of the incident - he is characterized as an experienced pilot, a true veteran who spent 3200 hours in the air, including at least 60 at the helm of the F-35. The "analysis" of this tragic flight will certainly take a lot of time, if it will be possible in principle - they can keep secrets of the Pacific Ocean. Well, potential buyers of the “miracle fighter” will have time to think.
On the other hand, Washington is categorically against any attempts at a sober analysis and honest comparison of weapons of its own and foreign manufacture. And if we are talking about weapons made in Russia ... As it became known, the White House threatened tough economic sanctions to Egypt if he buys Russian-made Su-35 fighters. A statement in the US Senate was made personally by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He clarified that Cairo “perfectly understands the possible consequences” and expressed the hope that the proposed deal with Moscow will be terminated. Otherwise, Egypt will have to “respond in all severity” in accordance with the CAATSA sanctions law.
This is precisely the way the United States intends to solve the problems of its own arms exports by banal blackmail to compensate for the crazy costs of failed projects. However, this issue did not work with Ankara, despite its membership in NATO. Beijing and Delhi, too, are in no hurry to give up Russian weapons. Will Egypt give slack? For this, frankly speaking, not the richest country, the issue price is of great importance, and the cost of our Su-35s, as you know, is orders of magnitude lower than the sums that will have to be paid for the same F-35 or even outdated models of American fighters inferior to the latest Russian. In addition, as recent experience shows, in the issue of reliability, Russian cars are definitely superior to Western competitors.
Well, this intrigue, presumably, will be resolved in the near future - as well as the question of whether the United States succeeds in imposing on the half of the world either its most modern or the most problematic fighter planes today.
The fall into the Pacific Ocean in the area of Aomori Prefecture of the F-35 fighter of Japan, which took off with a pair of the same vehicles from the Misawa air base for the most ordinary training flight, was another episode that cast doubt on the fighting qualities of this “miracle” equipment". Hopes that the fighter pilot, who reported that he was forced to interrupt the training task a few seconds before the disappearance of the aircraft from the radar, survived, practically no longer exists. But only recently the Land of the Rising Sun proudly announced that the first F-35A squadron "reached the initial level of combat readiness." And it was just about the unit stationed on Misawa ...
Moreover, Tokyo expressed its firm intention to acquire from its wonderful allies another 157 “unsurpassed fifth-generation fighters” - and, of these, 42 of them should have already been F-35V models - with vertical take-off. These aircraft were to become carrier-based aircraft on Izumo class helicopter carriers in Japan. And now - such an affront. According to reports, to date, all F-35 flights are stopped on Misawa - until the causes of the disaster are clarified. The United Kingdom also announced a “status review” of its seventeen F-35Bs. But this country was going to buy 138 of these aircraft. No less uncomfortable than the British and Japanese, the closest neighbors of the latter, the pilots of South Korea, certainly feel themselves. At their Chengchu military base, there are so far only two F-35As that have arrived there recently. Deliveries of eight more fighter jets are expected before the end of this year, and in total South Korea has “swung” to buy 40 such aircraft. This "pleasure" will cost its taxpayers $ 7 billion. That's just the question - is it worth it?
Not so long ago, quite interesting facts became public in the United States: it turns out that Washington intends to sell its "miracle weapon", as they say, to everyone. And for those who do not want to - it is very persistent to explain the vital necessity of such a purchase for "national security interests." This became known from the materials submitted to the House of Representatives of the US Congress by Vice Admiral Matthias Winter, who oversees the F-35 creation program at the Pentagon. According to those, in addition to Australia, Britain, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, South Korea and Japan, which already have these aircraft in service, the United States intends to foist them on Spain, Greece, Singapore, as well as Poland and Romania. As a matter of fact, the corresponding package of documents necessary for the approval of these transactions was sent to Congress.
The Buy American program, which was proclaimed by Donald Trump, which envisages extreme liberalization of the rules for American arms exports and the state’s full support for such, is essentially nothing more than a plan to maximize the displacement from the world arms markets of any products other than those produced by the military US industrial complex. And the fact that the “nail” of this, frankly, very distant from the rules of fair competition, was the F-35, is also not surprising. According to Trump himself, since the start of this project, at least 400 billion dollars from the US state budget have already gone into it. The cost of one such "toy" is estimated in a "fork" of 160-180 million dollars - but this is without armament and accounting for maintenance costs. The blue dream of the Pentagon and the White House is to bring the F-35 fleet of various modifications in the world to at least 3000 units. With such an enormous scope Lockheed Martin promises to "try" to reduce the price to 80 million per car. Real pennies ...
The open question, however, remains the question: who will buy these fighters worth its weight in gold (in the truest sense of the word!) In such insane quantities ?! Countries participating in the program to create the F-35 acquire it, albeit with a scratch. True, there is no grandeur - Turkey, there, rested. In no way does he want to change to the “most modern fighter” the Russian S-400 Triumph air defense systems. Neither promises nor threats help. Is it weird? Or is it natural? A catastrophe in the Pacific is not the first F-35 crash, as some media have already hurried to write, but the first crashed plane sent for export, but is it the last? By the way, according to the Japanese Air Force, a 40-year-old fighter pilot could hardly have been the culprit of the incident - he is characterized as an experienced pilot, a true veteran who spent 3200 hours in the air, including at least 60 at the helm of the F-35. The "analysis" of this tragic flight will certainly take a lot of time, if it will be possible in principle - they can keep secrets of the Pacific Ocean. Well, potential buyers of the “miracle fighter” will have time to think.
On the other hand, Washington is categorically against any attempts at a sober analysis and honest comparison of weapons of its own and foreign manufacture. And if we are talking about weapons made in Russia ... As it became known, the White House threatened tough economic sanctions to Egypt if he buys Russian-made Su-35 fighters. A statement in the US Senate was made personally by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He clarified that Cairo “perfectly understands the possible consequences” and expressed the hope that the proposed deal with Moscow will be terminated. Otherwise, Egypt will have to “respond in all severity” in accordance with the CAATSA sanctions law.
This is precisely the way the United States intends to solve the problems of its own arms exports by banal blackmail to compensate for the crazy costs of failed projects. However, this issue did not work with Ankara, despite its membership in NATO. Beijing and Delhi, too, are in no hurry to give up Russian weapons. Will Egypt give slack? For this, frankly speaking, not the richest country, the issue price is of great importance, and the cost of our Su-35s, as you know, is orders of magnitude lower than the sums that will have to be paid for the same F-35 or even outdated models of American fighters inferior to the latest Russian. In addition, as recent experience shows, in the issue of reliability, Russian cars are definitely superior to Western competitors.
Well, this intrigue, presumably, will be resolved in the near future - as well as the question of whether the United States succeeds in imposing on the half of the world either its most modern or the most problematic fighter planes today.
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