F-35: 'A Trillion Dollar Turd' - Russian Payback For US Crashing Their Economy

[sigma6]

F-35 Is Karma Comeback to US Avarice, Arrogance, Denial, Repression

Lockheed Martin lied, then locked themselves in a world of denial then got the congress to take a bite of the apple... and played on the US penchant for programming repression and denial into the public consciousness... (especially when it comes to anything "military")

Denial on Denial... This changes everything... The US has totally dropped the ball... tactically, financially, morally, psychologically...

And there is only one way out, the US Military and Lockheed have to come clean, They have to admit they totally screwed up, and they must now completely drop the F35 and start all over!!!

Or stick to flying dated F-15s, and subsonic Harriers

Lockheed and the US Military are literally trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear... shame... They must be smarting and crying like bad little boys that know they are going to get a spanking when they get home (i.e. if and when the US public wakes up) and they don’t know where to run...

No wonder we have a gay president... LOL... It's a loaded PR trigger, in case they need a mass distraction (how many more have they "built into the system?) This is going beyond bread and circuses... It's now just circuses (and no bread... except for the Military...)



F-35 Lightning Developed From RUSSIAN Yak-141
Blueprints Sold To Lockheed Martin (3:46)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=k8QKj4K8Ko4

Avro arrow cheaper and better than F-35 (2:35)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=S74zf0YZX20

Russian 1950s Mig-21 Can Kill F-35 In A Dog Fight (2:31)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CqjjHDGWm4Q

F22 Raptor Exposed - Why the F22 Was Cancelled (6:12)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KaoYz90giTk

F35, The Jet That Ate The Pentagon (8:18)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KTF_a1DuIyE

Truth About The Useless F-35 & F-22 (10:00)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=27qdB1D0s9M

"...like clubbing baby seals..."

F35 Joint Strike Fighter Is A Lemon (by design) (10:18)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=UQB4W8C0rZI

A vulnerable plane, compared to F-105 (aka "the lead sled"...)

F35 JSF Stealth or How the West was Lost (43:37)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pteMgYPm1xM

[sigma6]

The Russian Story
Best Fighter Aircraft Ever Made (Full Documentary)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IudSJE-TLxk

It’s embarrassing to say, but if you’re honest,
you can’t help but feel admiration for the Russians

The Entire History - Why NO ONE will be buying F35s in the foreseeable future (unless they come out with antigravity :D )
Building The Su 27 – The Best Fighter Jet In The World (2:38:28)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yZvMljUNCeU

[Tesseract]

Last I heard the bill was $400 billion - even at that level, when you work out how many college educations, heart operations or mortgage payments that could have covered - it is incredible. A waste of that much money is a crime in itself.

[sigma6]

Posted by Tesseract (here)
Last I heard the bill was $400 billion - even at that level, when you work out how many college educations, heart operations or mortgage payments that could have covered - it is incredible. A waste of that much money is a crime in itself.

I heard it was hitting 1.5 trillion, but the problem is it's not buying anything, but a vertical take off flying "brick" that can communicate with other "bricks" in wolf packs.

On top of that everyone is backing out. In Canada, they are backing away, McKay bullsh**ed all the way to the bank. Canadian pilots want a twin engine fighter to cover longer distances and survive engine failures, statistics back up the survivability of twin engines. Australia wants out too, cat's out of the bag. The whole thing is becoming another US MIC Propaganda campaign. The concept was to save money by building a basic framework from which to build various specialized models, like some car manufacturers are doing.

This concept totally self destructs on two fronts. According to some estimates one plane is now costing as much as $350 million. The reusable frame model is dangerous, in that it duplicates any errors into all models, and therefore has to be based on something absolutely fundamentally sound (which this is clearly not) They violated the design protocol RIGHT THERE.

The US is going to build an entire fleet (2400) based a on mini space shuttle? They don't even fly fast. It's completely upside down. It makes no sense whatsoever. The ONLY angle I can see is this is a "make work project" for some 40 states involved in the production of parts. But even so, given the money spent why not go back to the board and build a real jet fighter? This whole thing is a farce about to blow up in someone's face. (guess who..)

Makes one wonder if the Boeing prototype might have been better, the engineering problems during competition were minor imo, and at least they incorporated proper wings into it's design. And we never saw the final prototype.

This whole thing appears to be evolving into a giant con (although I think it may have started out as coveting what they thought the Russians were building, then became bullheadedness and denial and the magical ability of Lockheed to turn a brick into a flying machine with UFO capabilities, which isn't going to happen)

So then maybe they thought they could dump this on the whole world (like their banking model...) The thoroughly rotten to the core US Military Industrial Complex (MIC) would "sell" the world a "space ship" fighter (according to all the "marketing" hype) before anyone realized what they signed onto. If that is the case, it's clearly backfiring now. And this leaves the US holding the bag. A bag with a trillion dollar turd in it... This just so reeks of KARMA.

The timing is not looking good either. No amount of computer programming is going to make this "levitating brick" perform unless they replace the innards with a Star Trek Fusion Drive and create an energy field around it, to protect its delicate innards... Technically they euchred themselves in every aspect of design, by trying to do everything, (defying the laws of physics) it doesn't excel in anything!

Meanwhile the Russians (and technically the Chinese) built their fleet around the solid aerodynamics of the SU 27, now in its 5th generation. And the electronics and missile advantage are drawing down, no longer the advantage they once were. If a real war breaks out, it will still get back to good 'ol man to man dog fights. Kill or be killed.

I wouldn't want to be a Lockheed engineer right about now This one is so obvious, besides mind control propaganda, how else does one explain the absolute 'mind funk' of an entire nation not being onto this?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FzvKwvpgWOs

Oddly it's making reference to Evolution, but it seems to be a pervasive issue in the New Big Brother State. Another too big too fail (or fly)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BAF9OAO4TtA

What's that saying... "You can't con an honest man"

[sigma6]

Another telling interview
Scathing 60 Minutes Interview (almost breaking through the hypnotic suggestion, but not quite being able to unblock the politically correct mind control protocol)

2014 July Breaking News USA Marines resume F-35B flights on schedule to attend England Air Show

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=T5u1WSag0A0

Is this just to save face?

[Cidersomerset]

In most scenario against third world countries and " terrorists' you do not
need multi billion dollar war planes. The expensive kit could be kept back
for deterrent against the bigger threats thus not wearing out the kit on
tasks cheaper planes or drones could do.

This is a US company......

Though you can't hide Black projects on cheap budgets !!...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------






15 July 2014 Last updated at 00:03

Farnborough Airshow: The Scorpion in search of a customerBy Russell Hotten

Business reporter, BBC News, Farnborough



Two US fighter jets were due to make their international debuts this week at the
year's most important aerospace event, the Farnborough Airshow. At the moment,
only one of them is here.

The F-35 may be the world's most expensive, most advanced military jet
programme, but it was a cheap and cheerful budget aircraft that managed the
trans-Atlantic crossing to Farnborough.

The Scorpion costs about $20m (£12m) a throw, is built from off-the-shelf
components, and went from drawing board to first flight in 23 months.

The F-35, costing three times as much and conceived in the early 1990s, is still in
the US while engineers figure out what caused a fire that has grounded the entire fleet.

OK, making comparisons is unfair; the Scorpion and F-35 are lightyears apart in
specification and functionality. But it is still slightly ironic.




Textron flies over the Isle of Wight during its first appearance outside the US
Whit Peters, part of the company behind the Scorpion, was involved in the F-35
when he was Secretary of the US Air Force in the 1990s.

A few years ago, he and some colleagues had an idea for a new, light tactical
fighter for general security and reconnaissance, positioned between existing
cheaper, but ageing aircraft, and full-on strike fighters.

"We were pretty sure that there was a gap in the market," Mr Peters says. "It was
about building something with enough tactical capacity to satisfy customers, but
that also had low running costs. We are in an era when defence departments are
facing budget cuts."

No customers

His company, AirLand, pitched the concept to manufacturers, but it was Textron,
the US giant behind Cessna corporate jets and Bell Helicopters, that grabbed the
opportunity.

In 2012, Textron AirLand Enterprises was born. "It started with a team of about 10,
a whiteboard and a clean sheet," Mr Peters says.


read more.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28260781

[DeDukshyn]

I think by now it is obvious the whole f-35 deal was a scam from the start. Exactly like those charity fund raisers the elite like to put on --- 95% for us and 5% for the project ...

There are a few men getting filthy stinking rich off this plan ... because suckers are born in "office".

[KiwiElf]

What's even scarier is that the armed forces who have these lemons are now stuck with them, with ongoing maintenance costs likely to keep them poor (ie, on average, the F-35 has 30 hours of maintenance and fixes for every 1.7 hrs flown). Bring back the Avro Arrow!

[Cidersomerset]

Russia aims "to spend $10bn over the next 10 years," and "they are going to
develop unmanned combat air vehicles," he says.


A quote from the bottom of this article, whether they do or not
the mil ind complex is going push for defence against it and
the arms race will continues and the corporates will fleece
the taxpayer and the Black projects with cream off their
share and the cycle will continue......

Now it could be Russia and China has to spend that much
to pay for their share of the 'Secret Space programme'
budget ...?? Or it could just be fear porn for the elites
to rip us off and live in luxury with all the power,those
ego centric bastards need, who run this damn
' military computer game' ...LOL...I digress !!

Taranis looks similar to the UFO's described at Roswell...




====================================





16 July 2014 Last updated at 00:02

Farnborough: Europe's combat drone challenge By Tim Bowler

Business reporter, BBC News

Taranis UCAV
Continue reading the main story
Aerospace and DefenceThe $20m budget fighter jet
Farnborough Airshow: In pictures
New combat jet fails to take to sky
PM announces £1.1bn defence spending




Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder, is easily BAE Systems' spookiest-looking aircraft.




Sleek, with swept-back wings, the grey, wedge-shaped Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV),
or drone, is "the most advanced aircraft ever produced in the UK," says the firm.

Taranis is designed to be the prototype for a combat drone - capable of carrying out long-range
strikes in hostile territory.

With the UK's latest jet fighter, the Typhoon, scheduled to need a replacement by 2030, the
success of this project will help the Royal Air Force make decisions on the future numbers of
manned and unmanned combat aircraft.

Taranis's exact details are secret, but it is roughly the size of the RAF's current jet trainer,
the Hawk - the plane used by the Red Arrows display team.

Hide the engine
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The development of multinational programmes is politically challenging”
End Quote
Derrick Maple

UAV analyst, IHS

Designed to have a low radar and infrared signature, it has a complex exhaust system
to minimise any tell-tale heat trail from its engines, making it hard to detect or shoot down.

"What we had to do was fully embed and hide the gas turbine in the body of the aircraft,"
says Conrad Banks, Rolls-Royce's chief engineer for research and development - Rolls-Royce
being one of the firms working with BAE on Taranis.

At this week's Farnborough Airshow, BAE was keen to highlight the news from the latest
flight tests at "an undisclosed location" where Taranis demonstrated its advanced stealth capabilities.

"The Taranis project is a tremendous example of how the UK government and industry can
work together," says BAE's Chris Garside, engineering director of future combat systems.



Taranis UCAV BAE's advanced Taranis drone - test-flying at an "undisclosed location"
Just don't ask what kind of weapons such a drone might carry: "That is a classified topic area,"
comes the short response.

Taranis is not Europe's only combat drone in development, just across the Channel France's
Dassault Aviation is testing a similar aircraft, called Neuron.

Franco-British collaboration

Neither will see active service - both are designed to flight-test technologies for use in future drones.

On Tuesday at the airshow, France and the UK announced a two-year £120m ($205m) study on
a potential Future Combat Air System, which would combine the lessons learnt from Taranis and Neuron.

Such European collaboration is badly-needed, say some industry insiders, if Europe is ever to produce
its own combat drones on an economic basis, rather than rely on off-the-shelf models from Israel or
the United States, which currently dominate the market.

Last year, even France opted to buy US Reaper drones as a money-saving measure.

Individually, Europe's nations are too small to be an effective market for combat drones. Only if they
can develop a multi-national drone would such a system be economical.



Dassault Aviation's Neuron UCAV Preparing Neuron for its maiden flight
A Neuron UCAV and Rafale fighter jet flying in formation In future, manned and unmanned fighters
may fly together Yet it is important to put these combat drones in perspective. There are almost 80
firms with Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) of all shapes and sizes at Farnborough, but most of these
are not designed to carry weapons.

The vast majority are designed for information-gathering and surveillance. The US armed forces,
the world's biggest users of drones, may have 8,000 of them, but only 1% of them are armed.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
This is about finding cost-effective solutions to enable decisions regarding whether a plane will
fly with or without a pilot”
End Quote
Hakan Bushke

Saab CEO

It's an economic fact of life that building and developing combat planes is expensive, whether
those aircraft are manned or not. Taranis itself has already cost £185m. Yet, despite their rising
costs, drones will continue play an increasingly vital role in air forces around the globe.

Future combat missions

It's easy to see why - as they are good at doing boring, complicated things quickly. Yet what they
are not doing is taking nuanced judgements, so for practical, as well as moral, reasons we are not
going to see them replace manned fighters any time soon.

In the combat of the future, mixed flights of manned and unmanned strike aircraft are likely to be
common, but the challenges of operating such very different systems in close proximity to each
other is only just being worked out.

Earlier this year, Dassault's Neuron achieved an important first for combat drones by flying in formation
with other aircraft, including France's latest Rafale fighter jet.



But unmanned combat aircraft might not look like drones such as Taranis and Neuron - they could
equally be unmanned versions of existing, currently-manned, fighter jets.



In Sweden, Saab is considering developing an unmanned version of its Gripen multirole fighter.
Saab's reasoning is that it would be cheaper for an air force to operate one type of airframe rather
than a conventional jet fighter and a combat drone.

"This is about finding cost-effective solutions to enable decisions regarding whether a plane will fly
with or without a pilot on various missions," says Saab's chief executive Hakan Buskhe.

And it is not just the Swedes - Boeing is also considering a similar role for its F-16 fighters.

A Saab Gripen fighter Fighter jets like Saab's Gripen could be flown unmanned, in future
Despite the challenges facing Europe's policymakers when it comes to military drones, the overall
global UAV market has been largely immune from the tightening of military budgets in many
countries in recent years.

The market is currently growing at some 5% a year, and this is a growth rate that is likely to continue
for the next 10 years, according to defence and aerospace specialists IHS.

Overall, the market from 2014 to 2023 will total almost $90bn.

Russian and Chinese aims

Crucially, much of this growth will no longer be driven by the huge US defence market which is set to
slow in the short term.

Indeed outside the US, the UAV market's annual growth rate over the next decade is set to be 10% or more.

"Much of this is coming from Russia and China which are both developing their industries," says Derrick Maple,
UAV analyst at IHS.

"Their initial requirement is home-based, but China especially has aspirations to export in the longer term."

Russia aims "to spend $10bn over the next 10 years," and "they are going to develop unmanned combat air
vehicles," he says.



Russian T-90 tanks in Red Square in Moscow, on May 9, 2014, during a Victory Day parade Russia has
revamped its armed forces in recent years - and is now investing in drones
Europe 'needs its own capability'

Despite the success of Taranis, it is not yet clear whether European nations will, in the end, plan for their
own combat drones to stand alongside manned fighters, sometime after 2030.

"The development of multi-national programmes is politically challenging," says IHS's Derrick Maple.

"But in my view, overriding this is a need for Europe to develop its own capability - otherwise it will
continue to be dependent on the US and Israel."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28294239

[sigma6]

Like we had to wait for them to own up, in order to believe what we could gather from the media and research.

Pentagon Admits The F-35 Fighter Jet is a Failure
Even the designer of the popular F-16 Fighter says that the F-35 is the worst plane ever designed.

http://www.lifeintheknow.com/f-35-joint-strike-fighter/

Designer admits it's crap, US is trying to dump cost by selling it to Allies

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=idVY2KumIcA

[sigma6]

Flawed F-35 Fighter Could Suck Up Another 8.3 Billion...
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articl...her-83-Billion

The Pentagon’s most expensive weapons system, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is facing more delays. Again.
As of last month the aircraft was more than $160 billion over budget and seven years behind schedule. Now that delay is likely to be seven-and-a-half years.

No doubt that is being generous, as if, it's going to be ready in 6 months... baahaahaha

[sigma6]

DOD Is Stuck with a Flawed $1.5 Trillion Fighter Jet -



http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articl...on-Fighter-Jet

In CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, national security correspondent David Martin chronicled the seemingly never-ending list of problems with the Pentagon’s next-generation F-35 fight jet, from cost overruns of $160 billion to technical problems that have plagued the plane’s development.

When asked if the F-35 program, which is expected to cost some $1.5 trillion over the four-decade life of the program, is now under control, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, Frank Kendall, said, "Yes, it is."

But that commitment came with a warning.

“Long gone is the time when we're going to pay for mistake after mistake after mistake," said Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the officer who took control of the F-35 program last year. He added that the planes are necessary, however, to keep pace with the technology being developed by U.S. rivals Russia and China.

... does that even make sense??

[sigma6]

The Pentagon’s Incredible $1.5 Trillion Mistake



http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articl...illion-Mistake
Late Friday afternoon, less than a week after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued dire warnings about the pending defense cuts, the Pentagon announced that it had grounded its next generation F-35 fighter because of engine problems. This was the second time in two months the plane has been taken out of service.

Friday afternoon is Washington’s preferred time to release bad news and hope reporters, already thinking about the weekends, will turn a blind eye. But after this latest failure, the problems with the F-35 are simply too numerous to ignore.

Equally impossible to ignore is the $1.5 trillion price tag for one of the biggest failures in Pentagon history. $1.5 trillion is the cost of operating the air craft for 55 years, an amount that has been consistently increased as the program drags on. It’s the most expensive weapons system the Pentagon has ever commissioned. And as problems mount, there are growing concerns that the F-35 will never fly a combat mission.

“This was a huge mistake. We were warned about it in the 1990s by some prescient people. Those people were ignored,” said Winslow Wheeler, a long-time Congressional staffer who now is the director of the Straus Military Reform Project. “We’re living the consequences of the bad, fundamental design of the airplane and bad, fundamental design of the acquisition plan

As the price soared, the Pentagon in 2010 deemed the program “too big to fail.” Yet it continues to fall short. Recent engine troubles are just the latest in a series of mechanical failures. A pilot was killed when oxygen to the cabin was cut off. The aircraft are running too hot, limiting their ability to operate in warm environments.

But according to Wheeler, lawmakers on Capitol Hill and officials at the Pentagon refuse to acknowledge that they might be throwing money at a program that has not, and might not ever, produce a usable aircraft.

“It’s certainly not too big to fail. It already has failed,” he said. “Cancelling this thing and proceeding with a properly conceived aircraft would be cheaper and better.”

[sigma6]

How DOD’s $1.5 Trillion F-35 Broke the Air Force

http://social.newsinc.com/media/json...?type=VideoPla

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the most expensive, and possibly the most error ridden, project in the history of the United States military. But DOD has sunk so much money into the F-35 - which is expected to cost $1.5 trillion over the 55-year life of the program - that the Pentagon deemed it “too big to fail” in 2010.

Now, the Air Force has taken steps to make sure that the unmitigated disaster that the F-35 has become does not happen again.

The Air Force, in its 20-year strategic forecast entitled “America’s Air Force: A Call to the Future,” has called for an end to big-ticket programs like the F-35. Instead, it plans to invest in what DOD officials have called more “agile” weapons that can be adapted for multiple uses.

It's about time. And is the first time, they have finally admitted what a huge f*** up this is? That sounds like someone admitting defeat. Too big to fail finally exposed for the oxymoronic statement that it is. And to think they did it by their own hand.

[sigma6]

This stuff is everywhere you look... who knew?

Pentagon Downgrades Specs for Its Premier Stealth Jet — Again



Does it get any more bizarre? Lockheed's claims in complete contradiction to specs downgrade??...
I don't suppose trillions of dollars on the line, and liability suits have anything to do with it?...

America’s latest stealth fighter just got heavier, slower and more sluggish.

For the second time in a year, the Pentagon has eased the performance requirements of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The reduced specs — including a slower acceleration and turning rate — lower the bar for the troubled trillion-dollar JSF program, allowing it to proceed toward full-rate production despite ongoing problems with the plane’s complex design. Under the old specs, the stealth fighter, due to enter service in 2018 or 2019, probably wouldn’t pass its Pentagon-mandated final exams.

At the same time, newly identified safety problems could force F-35-smith Lockheed Martin to add fire-suppression gear that will only increase the plane’s weight and further decrease its maneuverability. The JSF is meant to be a jack of all trades, equally capable of dropping bombs and fighting other aircraft — the latter requiring extreme nimbleness in the air.

For the pilots who will eventually take the F-35 into combat, the JSF’s reduced performance means they might not be able to outfly and outfight the latest Russian- and Chinese-made fighters. Even before the downgrades, some analysts questioned the F-35’s ability to defeat newer Sukhoi and Shenyang jets. Despite the JSF’s lower specs, Lockheed bizarrely claims its new plane is now more maneuverable than every other fighters in the world except the company’s own F-22.

In short, the F-35 program is losing altitude as Lockheed’s claims grow loftier. The result is a widening gulf between expectations and reality for a jet that’s supposed to represent the backbone of U.S. air power for the next 50 years..

...and now time for a musical interlude... : D

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tgKv-6Yyd2g

[KiwiElf]

Astonishing is that the Australian Airforce still seem determined to purchase these "flying turds" to replace their existing aircraft (ie F-18 Hornets etc), as if totally oblivious of their problems and eventual costs (at least, that was the story in an Ozzie aviation magazine as of 2 months ago!).

[DeDukshyn]

Canada has put them on hold and may well cancel, The US, or rather the people behind selling these have offered Canada the next batch out without payment and they will pick up ours which were slated for 2016 or 2017 where we will pick up the tab on those (I can't recall all the details) - it looks like someone is getting desperate to ensure all western countries are flying these things ... You have to wonder why ...

I think Canada has chosen to upgrade their f-18's for now ...

[sigma6]

F-35 Gravy Train Logic - "Big Fat Lumbering... Delusional Stealth...
Monumentally Useless..."

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TS7O14nzrzE

Original Winslow T Wheeler on F-35

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8kssZua8MVc

Money Blown On F-35 Could Buy All Homeless A Mansion

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=iKnv4PEQoRw

[sigma6]

More 'spray' From Pierre Sprey :D

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=nE7NDEYB5yU

You'd think wars are won purely on BS and politics... maybe they have something there...
When was the last time we have seen fighters in direct combat?
Pierre Sprey... the 'honest man' that can't be conned... (a dying breed apparently)

[sigma6]

Posted by DeDukshyn (here)
Canada has put them on hold and may well cancel, The US, or rather the people behind selling these have offered Canada the next batch out without payment and they will pick up ours which were slated for 2016 or 2017 where we will pick up the tab on those (I can't recall all the details) - it looks like someone is getting desperate to ensure all western countries are flying these things ... You have to wonder why ...

I think Canada has chosen to upgrade their f-18's for now ...

Well they are paying Israel their 3 bills with a quarter billion left over to buy the first few, essentially paying them to take them... O.o? Maybe they will pay us too! In any event, the Super hornets are definitely the way to go, unless we could get our hands on the Sukhoi 50s, or even the MiG 31s! I just don't see anyone buying these things... And I heard the upgraded Super Hornets are awesome, proven, and comparatively way, way cheaper... even the skeptics said they would be good for another 25 years... What the hell is wrong with that? There is no way these toilet paper thin F-35s are going to survive 50 years... That is pure crap... and totally impossible... They're already cracking during flight testing!!

And apparently a rifle shot can take them down... could blow through the gas tanks which surrounds the turbine... ie. these things are very fragile because they are packing so much stuff in them... they had to shave the weight down, so it is essentially armourless, everything rides on this Gretzky effect... ie. the assumption that it will never be involved in direct contact... (good luck in a real war... they will hunt and chase these down if necessary... And what if the drive shaft connecting the turbine to the air blower takes a hit? that will rip through body like butter, or cause a major vibration to shake your teeth out??? ':-O