Okay, so in a few replies to people here today, I've said more or less this:
"The F-35 is a great aircraft but it's a terrible program."
I could write some lengthy thread where I cite a bunch of systems engineering stuff, but here's a better way to explain things.
"The F-35 is a great aircraft but it's a terrible program."
I could write some lengthy thread where I cite a bunch of systems engineering stuff, but here's a better way to explain things.
One explanation for the problems of the F-35 program has been "There are too many cooks in the kitchen."
Let's take that metaphor farther.
The F-35 program is like a restaurant. But the restaurant is very strange.
Let's take that metaphor farther.
The F-35 program is like a restaurant. But the restaurant is very strange.
The restaurant is owned by an absentee owner who has passed day-to-day control to a manager with many years of experience. The owner is so disinterested that he tells the manager that he doesn't care what kind of food is served or how, so long as the diners are happy.
But also, the owner isn't going to pay attention to food reviewers, yelp ratings, or customer complaints. He is going to let the manager determine his own effectiveness in meeting diner satisfaction.
The kitchen has some brilliant, world class, Michelin star chefs. They try.
The kitchen has some brilliant, world class, Michelin star chefs. They try.
But for every chef, there are 20 people trying to be expediters and are yelling conflicting instructions about how to correct the food that is being served.
The head chef changes every couple of years or so, but the manager sticks around.
The head chef changes every couple of years or so, but the manager sticks around.
Sometimes the head chef makes some progress in improving restaurant quality, but the manager knows that all he has to do is outwait the chef, who will either go on to serve on the James Beard award committee in their next assignment, or will retire.
Did I mention that this restaurant has either bought out every other restaurant in town or starved it of customers? Diners have to make reservations years in advance and pay at the time of reservation, and pray that what they'll want to eat will be produced when it's their day.
All of this, of course, is only sustained by large infusions of cash from the absentee owner. Occasionally, the owner's wife gets really mad at him and drags him to the kitchen table in their house where he has to explain where all the money is going.
Confused, the owner calls up the manager, who promises that everything will get back on track. The diners are happy and food is going out, just look at all these reports he's compiled! To keep his wife happy, the owner descends to the restaurant for a while.
The owner sets up in the restaurant office. He reschedules all the upcoming food deliveries, fires a few of the cooks and waiters, and maybe switches out the head chef. But he can't fire the manager, the manager is the only one who knows all the passwords to the computers.
Eventually the line cooks figure out how to make a decent meal and crank out food that actually does satisfy diners. This has only happened because the owner put more money into this restaurant than any other restaurant in the history of the world.
Unfortunately, the food always comes out anywhere from 2 to 4 hours after diners order and they're starving. But where else are they going to go? There's no other restaurant in town!
The owner needed to be more involved. The manager should have been fired long ago. Customer feedback needed to be meaningfully incorporated from day one.
The food turned out to be good, but damn, if only things had been done differently, it could have been so much better.
The food turned out to be good, but damn, if only things had been done differently, it could have been so much better.
For anyone driving by and thinking "this guy is just an armchair critic of F-35"...I worked on the program for more than a decade. I have seen some shit.
@pre911vibes Congress is the angry wife
the head chef i admit is a bit of a mixed metaphor, he's the guy you most closely associate with the restaurant's food
In this case he's the head of the JPO, who (for much of the program's life) only served a couple of years until being replaced. LM would often wait these guys out.
Until the last few program heads, who have all said some version of "You aren't going to outwait me, I'll be here for 4 or 5 years at least so you better listen to me"
In this case he's the head of the JPO, who (for much of the program's life) only served a couple of years until being replaced. LM would often wait these guys out.
Until the last few program heads, who have all said some version of "You aren't going to outwait me, I'll be here for 4 or 5 years at least so you better listen to me"
@JamesRaxz @pre911vibes The producers brought in a whole crowd of foodies. The foodies tried food from each of the trucks. Then they all went to the show’s back office, shut the door, and didn’t come out for a long time. Somehow they decided which food truck was best.
@JamesRaxz @pre911vibes The owner hired the manager of the “best” food truck and said, “I’m going to build the best restaurant the world has ever seen. You are going to run it.”
And the rest was history
And the rest was history
@PaulGraham4342 Ultimately the protagonist just buys sheep with his own money and does the test anyway.
@NASLACS There is also a backup flight display running on separate hardware in the center pedestal that has airspeed, attitude, and altitude
It would be a real eye raiser if all of these failed simultaneously
It would be a real eye raiser if all of these failed simultaneously
@BigBadUSNDawg @NASLACS That is why my replies weren’t “bullshit, impossible” but “tell me more”
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