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There are always problems with new equipment.


F-35C Lightning II
(Picture I)


Kimmo Huosionmaa

The miscalculated operational range would danger F-35C fighter-program, says news bulletin from the U.S NAVY. The U.S NAVY:s new stealth fighter F-35C have a problem, that it's combat radius have been miscalculated. The problem with those calculations has been that the F-35C has the very powerful jet engine, what of course uses very much fuel, and that was made problematic for calculating the radius of that military aircraft. When some new equipment is taken in the service, there are always problems with them, and that means the problems can be solved, but this means that with those technical problems must be honest, and make work to find them. Only the problems, what is found can be solved, and as we know that engineering work is very systematic.


Almost every other systems have found problems when they are first taken in use, and one of the most well-known cases was when U.S NAVY F-14 "Tomcat"  got the computerized AWG-9 fire-control system for its AIM-54 "Phoenix" missile system, that aircraft turned upside down when it crossed the Equator. Here I must confess that I don't remember the type of the aircraft really sharp, because there have been over 20 years from that case. This situation caused, because of the programmer of the computer forget, that there would be the world after the Equator, and then that aircraft turned upside down.


This kind of mistakes are very common in the new systems, and that's why engineers have been hired by the military forces. Their mission is to find those errors and fix them. If the new system doesn't have any errors,  that would be suspicious. Errors, what is found are the mark that the system has been tested properly, and if some brand new system would not found errors, would that mean that there would not be followed the testing instructions and procedures. As we know, in the engineering work people don't just expect that some things are working perfectly.


Engineers make tests before they accept the conclusion, that the system works. And when we are talking about the combat system, we would say, that those systems are extremely mission-critical, and that's why they must work perfectly before they are going to act. The pilots would not want to see in the real situation above enemy terrain, that their multi-million dollar aircraft would not work, because that could lethal when the real enemy is facing those fighters.

Sources:

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/navy-s-top-dollar-stealth-fighter-may-not-go-the-distance-1.528359

Picture I

https://fortunedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/20278731994_730232d6d5_k.jpg

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