Delete comment from: Elements Of Power
Hi Marauder.
I don't have a prediction, i have an opinion.
IMHO it SHOULD be Northrop Grumman. They have an edge in experience with the optionally-manned requirement, long-range, large aircraft composites and stealth and 'supportable stealth' not to mention weapon systems integration. It depends on what they did with that expertise.
But it could come down to anything on either side catching the right people's imaginations in the right places. Skunk Works guys stand up to this day swearing they would have got the first ATB contract if they had listened to the same generals as Northrop did. They did not believe the AF wanted a large bomber at the price point they were using, because they thought the program wanted more than a little over a hundred A/C. Nope.
This is the 'big time' so all the players have something to offer that the other doesn't. And while one competitor may have pulled a rabbit out his hat to get a breakthrough the other didn't. I doubt it. I admit I was surprised when LM came up with the shaft driven lift fan and that changed the game for the JSF. I thought Boeing was going to win based upon the design (ugly though it was) until they didn't deliver on too many breakthroughs.
I will predict IF Northrop wins there will be at least talk of a protest.If there isn't it won't be because Boeing didn't want to.
We'll see who wins. IMHO if the designs are otherwise equal, the longest range/largest payload and the best ability to trade one for the other by mission need should triumph. But that's becasue range and payload are the singular hallmarks of LRS. Nothing remarkable about that.
Oct 27, 2015, 12:30:45 AM
Posted to Twisting F-35 Factoids to Spread Untruth? I Smell POGO