The F-35 and "Texas Sharpshooters"

Well, the 'Ragin Hedge Baby from the Shires' tried to make a buzz (if link doesn't work it is because it is too long for Blogger) over the latest GAO report on the F-35 program almost exactly as predicted, including closing his piece trying to cite the GAO's 'Texas Sharpshooter' skills as proof of something or other.

The drumbeat is getting tiresome, and I'd 'Fisk' his entire post AND the GAO report, except I'm feeling sentimental at the moment having read an earlier magazine article online today written by Mr. Sweetman where he quoted an old colleague of mine who, sadly, passed away a few years ago, and who I am missing very much these days. So in lieu of a long parsing of the 'Ares' post, we'll just go with.....

A Short Quiz:

This is the latest GAO report on the F-35 program. 

Joint Strike Fighter: Restructuring Places Program on Firmer Footing, but Progress Still Lags GAO-11-325, Apr 7, 2011

Now here are some older GAO reports:

The F-16 Program: Progress, Concerns, and Uncertainties C-MASAD-81-10, Feb 28, 1981


The Multinational F-16 Aircraft Program: Its Progress and Concerns  PSAD-79-63, Jun 25, 1979


F/A-18 Naval Strike Fighter: Progress Has Been Made But Problems and Concerns Continue  MASAD-81-3, Feb 18, 1981

Q1: Do you see a 'trend'?

If you want to get into the nitty-gritty, compare my predictions last week with the latest GAO report. Note the DoD response. Most of it falls under "We're doing that already".

BTW: The "F-16 Program: Progress, Concerns, and Uncertainties" and "The Multinational F-16 Aircraft Program: Its Progress and Concerns"  reports are not that different from another report I used to illustrate pretty much this same point a few years ago.