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Joint Strike Fighte - Dutch Aviation MEDIA 2011 |
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.png){kind=small} JSF:
Is there a life for Eurofighter, Gripen or Rafale in The Netherlands ???? |
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| Once these aircraft were seriously concidered as possible replacer for the F-16 | ||
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| Never before the purchase of a plane in The Netherlands caused so much controversy an the JSF | ||
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| The Dutch Pilot and Aircraft ('Piloot en Vliegtuig') magazine reports : | ||
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| 5% of development cost being 800 million € had to be contributed in advance. | ||
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| A beauty she is, that's for sure ! | ||
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| This is a picture of the first test flights that were made. | ||
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| Many people wondered, why not an off-the-shelf purchase of production equipment such as proposed in Belgium ? | ||
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| While this question and others circulate, the testing went on such as here a jet-blast test. | ||
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| Concept was that with every single bought aircraft a discount could be settled. | ||
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| Also bonuses were promished for sales to non-partners, and a lot of counter-orders. | ||
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| A lot of problems occurred, technical such as recently (2012) with the STOVL version.... | ||
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| ....and also political disagreement and cost overruns. | ||
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| The global economic crisis caused evaporating allocated budgets though.... | ||
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| Finally it looks like the complete project has become priceless for many participating countries. | ||
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| So it will take some time before the F-35B will land on landing platform docks on assault carriers... | ||
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| ....or the JSF will land at Leeuwarden AFB, as it almost could be this very picture, which it isn't ... | ||
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| Another question is if the JSF or 'F-35 Lightning II' can provide that what it was designed for in the first place ? | ||
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| Cost of each single aircraft rose from 94,5 million US$ to 59,7 US$ in the mean time ! | ||
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| But F-16 (The Netherlands, Belgium) and for instance F-18 (other countries) have to be replaced in due time. | ||
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| In between Lockheed Martin seems to think 'on with the program' , solutions will follow later on. Political matters. | ||
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| Do read our article, and/or surf to the status report 2013 below. | ||
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Article in English |
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Artikel in het Nederlands |
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Go
to stage report 2013 for more recent information |
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| Please read our disclaimer mainpage left | ||
JSF STATUS REPORT THE NETHERLANDS