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In the article, they ordered 76 f35's, which is max production. >resulted in a machine that is not great at anything. the f35 is the most capable aircraft in
by TrapLord_Rhodo 4y ago
In the article, they ordered 76 f35's, which is max production.
>resulted in a machine that is not great at anything.
the f35 is the most capable aircraft in almost every KPI. Granted, The program was ungodly expensive, but we are still paying $2B for each b2, so at $300-760m a pop, it's still ungodly expensive, but the DOD's budget is infinite.
- nradov 4y agoWe are not still paying $2B for each B-2. Production of those ended years ago. The replacement B-21 is expected to be somewhat cheaper (although still very expensive) with a unit price in the $700M range.
- paulddraper 4y agoThat it is
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- chiph 4y agoWith recent foreign military sales (Switzerland, Norway, Czech Republic, maybe Greece), the R&D costs of the F-35 are now being spread over a much larger fleet. It's still not a cheap plane .. but the price is dropping by building them in volume (like was originally intended for the F-22). Production rate is up to about one being delivered every other day. Lockheed Martin and it's many contractors have made a large investment in production tooling & automation so the planes are being built in a process more like an automotive assembly line than individually like in years past. Note the large fixture @3:00 holding the wings vertically to make it easier to drill accurate holes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPEy3QwsKjQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPEy3QwsKjQ
- greedo 4y agoNot sure where you're getting your figures, but the B2 has been out of production for decades, and the cost for the F-35 is below a new build F-16.