It doesn't work. It costs too much. Existing aircraft can do the job better. 2015 is shaping up to be the year in which the F-35 strike fighter takes its long-anticipated place of honor as the No. 1 target of those who love to find fault with almost every major modern military aircraft program. It's behind schedule and over budget. It has no real mission. It's too fragile and complex. If you think you've heard these arguments before, you have. They were leveled, in essentially the same forms, against most of the Air Force's top modernization priorities of the past 40 years. To hear the defense "reformers" and their allies tell it, the E-3 AWACS flying command post had no mission and existed solely to keep money flowing to defense contractors.
展开▼
