Why do America's F-35s crash frequently?

美国F-35为何坠机事故频发

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Chen Zhuo
Time
2023-02-18 00:24:53

F-35 fighter

F-35战机

By Shen Yehong and Zhao Jingran

沈业宏、赵镜然

An F-35B fighter crashed in a vertical landing at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas on December 15, 2022, one of many such accidents for the F-35 family. In January last year, an American F-35C fighter fell into the sea after crashing on the carrier deck; nine months later, an F-35A crashed on the runway. All the three types of F-35 fighters had major accidents over a period of more than a year.

2022年12月15日,美国沃斯堡海军航空站联合储备基地,一架F-35B战机在垂直降落时失控坠毁。这不是F-35战机第一次发生事故。同年1月,美国一架F-35C战机在与航母甲板撞击后坠海;9个月后,一架F-35A战机又坠毁在跑道上。一年多的时间里,美军F-35战机的3种型号都发生了重大坠机事故。

By the end of 2022, Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 800 F-35 fighters to its clients. However, the constant rework and delay on the production line has lead to belated delivery and poorer war-readiness performance. Information from the US Department of Defense revealed more than 800 design flaws in F-35, of which those regarding the engine, ejection seat and body materials have not been solved yet.

截至2022年底,洛马公司已向用户交付了800多架F-35战机。但受制于多种问题与缺陷,F-35战机生产线一直存在各种返工、生产节点延期等现象,直接导致战机交付延误、战备状态下降等问题。根据美国国防部公布资料,F-35战机存在800多项设计缺陷。其中,发动机、弹射座椅和机身材料等方面问题一直未能得到解决。

Following the crash of F-35B, the Israeli Air Force immediately grounded its more than 10 F-35A fighters to prevent a similar accident, the second such halt since July 2022 when some of the ejection seats couldn’t function normally – the same seats are used onboard the recently crashing F-35B. They were developed and produced by Martin-Baker, a British company.

在美军F-35B坠机事故后,以色列空军第一时间停飞了10余架F-35A战机,防止发生类似重大事故。去年7月,以色列空军曾停飞过F-35A战机,原因是部分弹射座椅无法正常工作,而这些弹射座椅与美军此次坠毁的F-35B战机上的型号相同。该型号弹射座椅,由英国马丁·贝克公司研发生产。

For cost-effectiveness, the F-35 is jointly developed by several countries, each providing some of the parts and components. For instance, in the global supply chain of F-35, Italy is responsible for producing the titanium alloy body frame, and Britain’s Rolls Royce is responsible for the lift fan on the belly. Such a cooperative mode, though good for lowering the R&D cost, doesn’t put strict control over the quality of fighter parts due to the lack of unified manufacturing standards, and can easily cause quality problems.

出于降低成本考虑,F-35战机由多国联合研制,每个国家分别供应战机一部分零部件,例如,在F-35战机全球供应链中,意大利负责生产钛合金机身框架,英国罗罗公司负责制造机腹的升力风扇。这种合作模式虽然降低了战机研制成本,但也缺乏统一的生产标准,对战机零部件把控不严,容易出现质量问题。

In the meantime, the US is being unfair with its buyers. The selling price of F-35 is only US$80 million in the contract signed between Lockheed Martin and the US military, but it’s US$100 million when sold to other countries, plus the unfair term that the buyers shall not buy Russian equipment.

同时,美国还在通过军售压榨着其他合作伙伴。在洛马公司与美军签订的F-35战机采购合同中,F-35单机售价仅为8000万美元。但向其他国家空军出售战机时,F-35单机价格却达到1亿美元。此外,美国在出售F-35战机时还增加了“霸王条款”,要求这些国家放弃购买俄制装备。

As a matter of fact, the selling price takes up only a small portion of the total expenses spent on the Gen-V fighter, while routine repair and maintenance, use of parts and components, and operation of relevant facilities cost much more than the price of the fighter per se. Statistics show that an F-35 fighter can cost up to US$600 million throughout its service life. Besides, it may malfunction owing to the different climates and environments around the world, with its coating peeling, battery going dead because of low temperature, and so on.

实际上,在五代机的总费用中,采购价格只占其中一小部分。日常维修保养、部件设备消耗、相关设施运转等费用远超过战机采购价格。据统计,一架F-35战机的全寿命期成本高达6亿多美元。此外,受世界各地不同气候环境因素影响,F-35战机常常“水土不服”——出现涂层频频脱落、电池低温损坏等问题。

While helping its military enterprises obtain large orders, the US government is suspected of stealing military secrets from other countries under the disguise of data sharing. Many F-35 buyers have found that the electronic devices fitted on the aircraft automatically transmit the user data back to the US, which the seller claimed is to access necessary data to improve the fighter’s performance.

在帮助本国军工企业获得大额军售订单的同时,美国政府还涉嫌以数据分享为幌子窃取他国重要军事机密。很多F-35战机的国际用户在完成采购后发现,F-35战机的电子设备有一项特殊功能——将使用者数据自动回传美国。对此,美国表示,此举是为提升和改进战机性能提供的必要数据支持。

The so-called “technical support” Washington claims to provide is almost always a disguise over its pursuit of selfish interests, and domination in the world arms trade market. At the beginning of the 21st century, Japan planned to develop its own F-3 fighter independently, but was arm-twisted to scrap the program and buy Uncle Sam’s F-35. Similarly, after Israel successfully tested its Lavi Fighter, the US, worried that the fighter’s mass production would affect the sales of F-16, immediately stopped its capital and technical assistance to Israel, forcing it to abort the program.

一直以来,美国所谓的“技术支持”往往口是心非,更多考虑的是自身利益,维护其在世界军贸市场的霸主地位。21世纪初,日本原计划自主研制F-3战机,但迫于美国压力,选择搁浅F-3战机项目,向美国采购F-35战机。以色列“狮”式战机试飞成功后,美国担心该战机一旦量产,将会影响F-16战机外销,当即停止向以色列提供任何资金和技术援助,最终以色列不得不宣布项目“夭折”。

Selling F-35 all over the world has lined Lockheed Martin’s pocket, but its handling of the numerous technical and design flaws with the fighter is inefficient. Should this go on, grounding the fighter will not only discredit the manufacturer but will also undermine the future sales of the product.

向全世界出口F-35战机,洛马公司赚得盆满钵满。然而,面对战机暴露出的大量技术问题和设计缺陷,洛马公司处置效率却十分低下。长此以往,停飞事件不仅是丢了面子,还可能影响F-35战机的未来销量。

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