…pass the F-16s.
Any country operating F-16’s would need to get US permission to move them from their inventory.
And handing over aircraft, especially high performance aircraft, takes a hell of a lot more than passing the “keys” over.
Training, logistics, infrastructure, spare parts, fuel, oil… the list is HUGE. So stop with the quick fix attitudes already.
Roger that, “Pass the F-16’s”
Neocon Warmongers mystify me just as much. I have five good reasons that the US needs to steer clear of Ukraine: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the corrupt Biden family money laundering scam in Ukraine.
Some people are immune to history’s lessons. It’s not like Russia’s aggression just sprang up overnight like dandelions; the Russian encroachment into Ukraine followed the same playbook as previous incursions into Moldova (Transnistria) and Georgia (Ossetia). In 1991 every oblast in Ukraine, including the ones now under Russian occupation, voted for independence. I find the attitude of “freedom and independence for me but not for thee” among Americans to be quite hypocritical. The cost of the aid we’re supplying to Ukraine is virtually a rounding error compared to the huge sums our government spends on frivolous and dubious projects.
Thank you!
Russia withdraw its forces and return the Ukrainian children kidnapped and sent to Russia (this criminal act really makes my blood boil).
With you Jack W: Evidence of Russia’s War Crimes and Other Atrocities in Ukraine: Recent Reporting on Child Relocations
FEBRUARY 14, 2023
With you Jack W:
Evidence of Russia’s War Crimes and Other Atrocities in Ukraine: Recent Reporting on Child Relocations
FEBRUARY 14, 2023
The first unit rolling off the line in April 2022 and now – 14 months later – they’re doing taxi testing?? Hey, guys, hurry up … the war will be over before you get these things into the hands of the customer! Geesh. Oh well, they’re probably trying to figure out how to make the KC-46A work right?
December 1962: Lockheed signs contract to build six SR-71 aircraft
October 1964: SR-71 prototype (#61-7950) delivered to Palmdale
March 1968: First SR-71 (#61-7976) operational mission flown from Kadena AB over Vietnam
Depending how measured… SR-71 was 5 1/2 years from contract to first operational mission.
Sorry but this thing looks like a “parts bin” special. And what would be wrong with just producing new TA-4J’s? Great advanced trainer that looks like a proper jet aircraft.
Everything seems easy when you know nothing.
A guess you have no idea what it would take rebuild and reopen a aircraft production plant that closed in 1979
The delays seem frustrating, and they are, but I wouldn’t be too quick to place the blame on Boeing and SAAB. As a retired Defense Acquisition officer, I would look at the acquisition and contracting system, which is largely driven by statutory requirements.
Well … I worked for an aerospace company who turned an abandoned auto plant into a huge classified facility and cranked out a massively large airplane in the same period while managing a large number of co and sub vendors. And they used the very same “acquisition” system. Here, a once proud company – Boeing – has now fallen on its proverbial sword … on many programs. Oh well … maybe in two years they’ll fly it ?
Quite an adequate comment.??
To everyone who thinks it should be a simple matter to take some off-the-shelf aircraft designs and technologies and produce a new supersonic trainer, I offer the following: In 2020, the Air Force mandated that companies must design future aircraft to fit a wider range of recruitable Americans, rather than past standards based on a 1967 survey of male pilots that considered their standing and sitting heights and reach. The 2020 requirement is to safely eject persons weighing between 103 lbs to 245 lbs, with varying cgs, from zero altitude to 40,000+ feet and zero airspeed to 600 knots IAS. A friend of mine ejected from an F-4 at 500+ knots, and broke all the major bones in both arms and both legs. He took years to recover, but he lived. This seat is required to handle that situation without injury. There are many stories of aircrew who suffered spinal damage from ejection seats and even from ejection seat trainers. The seat is only one of the requirements that previous trainer aircraft have not had to deal with. As long as unobtanium remains one of the services’ requirements, we can expect “once proud” aerospace companies to experience development and testing delays.