back to article Italian F-35 facility rolls out its first STOVL stealth fighter

Italy has assembled the first F-35B outside the US, at the same factory where British jets will eventually be overhauled. The final assembly and check out (FACO) factory in Cameri, about 99km (60 miles) northeast of Turin, delivered its first F-35B on Friday (5 May), according to a Lockheed Martin statement. Although the …

  1. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Let's hope they don't change sides half way through a fight.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Turkey

      Turkey should have been booted out of NATO decades ago.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Turkey

        Why? Before Erdogan took the power the situation was quite different. And it does control the access to the Black Sea, while being a foothold in Middle East. The big mistake was to underestimate Erdogan.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  2. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Does the US know that when the going gets tough, the Italians swap sides?

    1. Rich 11 Silver badge

      Do you think that would trump a low bid or a handy tax break?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes, but in the last two WW we switched to the US side... what happens if we start on that side is not know, though...

  3. Rol

    Come on guys. That's totally mainframe, and not in the slightest PC.

    That's like saying the British are out and out racists, because they voted for Brexit, when the truth is, only a fraction of the population are goose-stepping zombies, and the rest were told it was in the bag, so didn't get off their arses to vote.

    You can't judge an entire population by the frothings of a handful of nut jobs that miraculously found themselves wielding power.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Judgemental

      You can't judge an entire population by the frothings of a handful of nut jobs that miraculously found themselves wielding power.

      But you can judge a population by how easily they roll over and let nut jobs seize power.

      1. AndrueC Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: Judgemental

        But you can judge a population by how easily they roll over and let nut jobs seize power.

        So, on that front how are we doing? Or should I ask again in June?

        Mine's the one with the emergency passport in the pocket.

      2. Mark 85
        Facepalm

        Re: Judgemental

        Ah... so that's the explanation for the US.

      3. quxinot

        Re: Judgemental

        >But you can judge a population by how easily they roll over and let nut jobs seize power.

        Perhaps I've had a beer too many, but I can't think of a population that has done the opposite with any prayer of winning, in modern times. I could make some arguments for some of the Greek city-states, but I'm coming up quite blank from then to now.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Happy

          Re: Judgemental

          Perhaps I've had a beer too many, but I can't think of a population that has done the opposite with any prayer of winning, in modern times. I could make some arguments for some of the Greek city-states, but I'm coming up quite blank from then to now.

          Early days I know, but think of the French presidential election.

      4. M.Heisenberg

        Re: Judgemental

        there were enough nut jobs to vote them into office

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      There was an 80% turnout in the referendum.

      1. Rol

        There was a 72% turnout in the referendum.

        And UKIP has the cash receipts for a significant number of them.

      2. Lotaresco
        FAIL

        Keep it factual

        "There was an 80% turnout in the referendum."

        No there wasn't, it was 72.2%.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "the rest were told it was in the bag, so didn't get off their arses to vote"

      Well, the referendum did have the highest UK electoral turn out for just about anything (including a c65% youth turnout according to the Graun), so by your logic we are in fact a nation of goose-stepping zombies.

      "You can't judge an entire population by the frothings of a handful of nut jobs that miraculously found themselves wielding power."

      You're presumably referring to the retards on both sides of the Commons chamber? You know, the ones who dragged us down the route to European Union without actually checking to see if we wanted all of that?

    4. PNGuinn
      FAIL

      goose-stepping zombies

      As a Brit who voted FOR brexit I am rather convinced that the goose-stepping zombies were and are on the remain side.

      It'll come as an awful shock to many of 'em when / if they realise that.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: goose-stepping zombies

        Oh, they'll never realize that.

  4. Caustic Soda

    The Turkish question isn't going away. The way the West has appeased Erdogan and his chums is disgusting, and it is hard to see a way to any stable settlement in the Middle East which doesn't eventually put him on the other side of the problem to us. Unless of course we are happy for him to gas the Kurds, turn a blind eye to Daesh, carry on with his insidious propaganda aimed at European countries, etc, etc.

    1. Geoffrey W

      Karanlık hızı nedir?

      That's a Turkish question.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You are not buying this equipment

    Anyone with the ideas that a country which has bought the F35 has bought it should have their head examined.

    It is not bought. It is not even leased. It is actually provided so you can put your pilots into it to fly missions on Americans' behalf hitting targets they allow, when they allow with what they allow and in a way that they allow. On top of that, we are paying for the favor.

    I am starting to wonder - how many "Bad Boy, Bad Boy" hookers in black leather panties had to be provided to the negotiating team. Based on the terms of the purchase agreement they definitely seem to be so heavy into this that they will probably be flagged for attention under the new Teresa may "public morale in shagging depiction" legislation.

    1. GrapeBunch

      Re: You are not buying this equipment

      The F35 has been decades in gestation. There's a chance that it contains an "off" switch controlled from DC or thereabouts. A whiff of global domination is the potential prize to any dissenting country or group that can figure out how to activate that switch. Or devise a weapon with one purpose: to take down F35's. In the most recent (39-45) global conflict, there were more--and more varied--fighters in play. In contemporary money, you could (my guesstimate) build about 200 Spitfires for the cost of one F-35. One of these babies defines an awfully large bassinet. A squadron? Whoa, Nelly.

      1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

        Re: You are not buying this equipment

        In the most recent (39-45) global conflict, there were more--and more varied-

        The reason for this is that conflict quickly terminated all delusions of fighters doing close-in air support as a main day job as well as the idea of "universal" fighter. WW2 fighters were highly specialized: air superiority (Spitfire, Yak-9, La-5, Me-109), Escort (P51), night (Dorado, Mosquito), intercept (Me-262), etc.

        While they often did close air support, they did not have that as a day job (except the night ones). There were Mosquitos, Stukas, Pe2, Il2 for that. They could carry more, stay over the battlefield for longer, take more punishment and do a much better job.

        What is happening today is repeating one of the biggest German mistakes of WW2. Hitler delayed the deployments of Me-262 by nearly a year until it had the ability to do some rudimentary close air support retrofitted (completely unnecessary for its actual use). We just do the same to fighters now instead of having proper close air support aircraft.

      2. Cuddles

        Re: You are not buying this equipment

        "There's a chance that it contains an "off" switch controlled from DC or thereabouts."

        On the plus side, one of the major issues with the F-35 has been the software and networking. There may well be an off switch installed, but the chances of the signal both getting through to it and functioning correctly are reassuringly low.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why filed under "bootnotes"?

    Just because it talks about Italy?

    1. TheRealRoland
      Happy

      Re: Why filed under "bootnotes"?

      >Why filed under "bootnotes"?

      Fiat-35B...

  7. m0rt
    Joke

    Better Waxoyl that puppy...

    ...before using in inclement weather.

    1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: Better Waxoyl that puppy...

      ...before using in inclement weather.

      And hope that the electronics are not built by anyone from Ducatti..

  8. paulc

    amazinbg how long Marham is remaining

    The only reason for it's continued existence is purely down to being close to Sandringham...

    1. Flabbergasted Elk

      Re: amazinbg how long Marham is remaining

      Pray explain? Either you're implying that the US want to bomb Sandringham, or that they are protecting it.

      The US aren't part of our RRF (to the best of my knowledge). Geologically, Sandringham is well protected with our without the local USAF.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: amazinbg how long Marham is remaining

        Sandringham isn't well protected at all, its got Bracknell on its doorstep. The people there have a nasty tendency to write angry letters and rant about things. If they're not careful the people there might escalate to phone complaints. Unruly bastards.

        1. eyestwice

          Re: amazinbg how long Marham is remaining

          Methinks you're confusing Sandringham for Sandhurst?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: amazinbg how long Marham is remaining

            Sandringham. Sandhurst. Bracknell. Slough.

            All these areas are the same grey amorphous concepts to me. It amazes me that people live in Bracknell though. Its so boring and uniform and average. Its the Milton Keynes of Berkshire.

            Its a town that seems to have been built specifically around Ikea furniture.

        2. BitEagle

          Re: amazinbg how long Marham is remaining

          Sandhurst has Bracknell on its doorstep, Marham has Norwich on its doorstep, so presumably a generous No-claims discount...

          1. PNGuinn
            Coat

            Re: Norwich

            A good yokel's substitute for Slough?

            NFN

            TTFN

      2. paulc

        Re: amazinbg how long Marham is remaining

        >Pray explain? Either you're implying that the US want to bomb Sandringham, or that they are protecting it.

        The Queen has a residence at Sandringham... Sandringham is close to Marham, the royals use Marham as their own personal airfield, flying in and out frequently.

  9. fishman
    Joke

    Fiat

    Well, you know what they say about Fiats - "Fix It Again, Tony". Hopefully Sergio Marchionne won't have anything to do with this.

    1. naive

      Re: Fiat

      Fiat 35B, everything wired with the same light blue wires Italians love to use. Nobody knows what goes to where and why.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Fiat

      You mean the man who saved Chrysler butts, CEO of Ferrari, and made an 1.8 billion in profits in 2016? No, unluckily Leonardo/Finmeccanica is not run by him, now the CEO is an ex banker (!), and not one with a good record...

    3. Lars
      Happy

      Re: Fiat

      They seem to have been able to fix Chrysler fairly well. Came to think of it, I would not claim to be an architect because my grandfather was one, is that an illusion that comes being born English.

      Also referring to some other comments. Long ago I listened to some stuff Nick Clegg said, and I apparently liked, and then I had to read up about him on the Wiki.

      I found this, and was surprised for two reasons. First, it's obvious some Brits would not like it at all, and secondly because it's so fucking true.

      "all nations have a cross to bear, and none more so than Germany with its memories of Nazism. But the British cross is more insidious still. A misplaced sense of superiority, sustained by delusions of grandeur and a tenacious obsession with the last war, is much harder to shake off".

      Shake it off.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        They seem to have been able to fix Chrysler fairly well.

        Chrysler seems to inhabit the bottom of the quality ratings - but they were doing that before Fiat came along.

      2. phuzz Silver badge

        Re: Fiat

        To be fair, British cars used to have a terrible reputation abroad for reliability, especially the electrics ("Lucas: The Prince of Darkness" etc.), but that's not a problem any more.

        Now pretty much every car manufacturer in the UK is foreign owned (except Morgan) our reputation for building crappy cars has all but disappeared!

  10. kmac499

    Remote Brick...?

    Considering some of the diagnostic smarts built into the F35, my major concern is can the US remotely 'brick' some of the avionics and capabilities.

    Shades of Nest bricking of Revolv kit.. "Sorry the F35 is no longer supported would you like to be a new shiny F36 instead"

    1. PNGuinn
      Joke

      Re: Remote Brick...?

      Presumably when we ordered ours we insisted they came with the source code, compiler and source code for the compiler?

    2. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: Remote Brick...?

      You'll be lucky if it's just the US remotely bricking any F35s...

      Ah, way to much effort... all an adversary has to do is to mess up the module in the integrated, interconnected, all-singing, all-dancing software that orders the right spare parts. Boom, done.

  11. Stoneshop
    Facepalm

    Finmeccanica

    It is operated by Leonardo, the company formerly known as Finmeccanica,

    Ah, the clods who couldn't build a train that could actually go faster than 40 km/h in winter[0] without parts dropping off, and where two certification agencies each inspecting half of one train set found close to 1000, and about 300 faults in their half, where 10 is the maximum allowed for a set in operation.

    [0] Sets from other manufacturers, introduced in the past 15 years or so break down in winter too, but at least they do so at 130km/h.

    1. Sir Sham Cad

      Re: a train that could actually go faster than 40 km/h in winter[

      Shit, that's a *lot* better than we have over here, sign 'em up! Our trains don't even run if there's a slight chill in the air!

      1. PNGuinn
        Trollface

        Re: a train that could actually go faster than 40 km/h in winter[

        "Shit, that's a *lot* better than we have over here, sign 'em up! Our trains don't even run if there's a slight chill in the air!"

        Yeah, but I bet they don't have the sane kind of snow and leaves we have!

      2. MJI Silver badge

        Re: a train that could actually go faster than 40 km/h in winter[

        Really cold and snowy

        Well back in the early 80s we had quite a bit of snow and trouble with some trains.

        Snow compacted into traction motors dropping a loco to three of them, but it still managed OK on its trailing bogie. Got over 25mph anyway (40km/h).

        Next train was OK. I got to my destination.

        Not sure if same year or previous or next same trip a loco took full advantage. Must have been at least 10% up on power due to the cold, went like shit off a shovel!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Finmeccanica

      Actually Ansaldo was sold to Hitachi, and you will still buy trains from them. Also is the supplier of part of Tornados, Typhoons, and the owner of Agusta-Westland....

      Also, Italian high-speed trains (Frecciarossa) don't look so slow to me....

      1. Stoneshop
        Holmes

        Re: Finmeccanica

        Also, Italian high-speed trains (Frecciarossa) don't look so slow to me....

        That's because they have red stripes painted on them.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Finmeccanica

          Red stripes are good. And no, they don't loose bits on the tracks either.

      2. MJI Silver badge

        Re: Finmeccanica

        Tornado

        Wasn't the boiler Polish?

  12. Tank boy
    Meh

    There's so much here...

    I wasn't sure if I should impugn the Italians reputation for producing products that require a lot of maintenance, or their lightning fast ability to switch sides in times of war. The option to point out that they are one of the weakest of NATO's members remains on the table as well. Good luck with all that.

    1. Hyper72

      Re: There's so much here...

      One does wonder if it turns out like with cars where you have to worry about which factory cranked it out. For example a VW made in Germany might be sorta OK but the ones made in Mexico can go all out Carrie on you.

      1. paulc

        Re: There's so much here...

        >For example a VW made in Germany might be sorta OK but the ones made in Mexico can go all out Carrie on you.

        they will do as they are built to different standards, the Mexican built one will most likely have far less crash resistance and no doubt no rust proofing either.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: There's so much here...

      Not that cars built in GB had a better reputation....

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: There's so much here...

      "I wasn't sure if I should impugn the Italians reputation for producing products that require a lot of maintenance, or their lightning fast ability to switch sides in times of war."

      I am reminded of once visiting a show with an Italian colleague and looking at a large Moto Guzzi V-twin on a stand. "You know," said my colleague, "we may not win many battles but we make amazingly fast getaway vehicles."

      1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: There's so much here...

        "we may not win many battles but we make amazingly fast getaway vehicles."

        Assuming that they will start if there is more than a hint of rain. And/or come with a *big* can of WD-40 and DampStart.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Italian built you say, so do they fly backwards ?

    1. MJI Silver badge

      That took the British to achieve

  14. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
    Joke

    Should

    have them made in France..... every time the germans look in their direction , they surrender ... ho ho ho and while we're on racial sterotypes....

    Get them made in Britain and they'll go off for tea at 4pm before adopting a suspiciously upper class accent on the voice control software....

    And gawd knows what the australian ones would be like.....

    1. SnowPatrol

      Aussie fighters

      Great at flying upside down but infested with poisonous critters.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Exotic Alloys

    So how did they manage the part where it rusts and falls apart?

  16. Malcolm Weir

    Optional

    I'm not clear why anyone is surprised that the FACO is in Italy. It's a simple matter of sending the Italians a spiff to keep their domestic aerospace business (Leonardo) from competing with the F-35. There is a small handful of companies in Europe that offer modern combat aircraft, notably Dassault in France and Saab in Sweden, plus the Airbus conglomerate (the former Aerospatiale, CASA, Dornier and MTU) and . Without a comfortable workshare deal, Lockheed faced Finmeccanica / Leonardo joining forces with one of those, just as they had for the Eurofighter.

    If that had happened, not only might Lockheed have lost the 60-odd aircraft sale to Italy, but there was a risk that other smaller F-35 customers (particularly Netherlands, Norway, Denmark) might have gone with a European alternate.

    It's also worth remembering that, jokes aside, Italy is the location of one of NATO's busiest bases, at Aviano, which (possibly not coincidentally) is the home of the USAF's 31st Fighter Wing, and the general staging base for any US aircraft flying over places south of Europe...

    1. Lotaresco

      Re: Optional

      "If that had happened, not only might Lockheed have lost the 60-odd aircraft sale to Italy, but there was a risk that other smaller F-35 customers (particularly Netherlands, Norway, Denmark) might have gone with a European alternate."

      Or "Welcome to the wonderful world of Brexit, brought to you by knee-jerk prejudice, ignorance and inability to think further than the end of one's nose."

  17. MJI Silver badge

    Engines & Turkey do we need to?

    Just thinking about this, do we need the engines?

    I am sure we could fund a British jet engine manufacturer to produce one, or even a European consortium.

    It is not like we do not know what to do.

    Just remember the most hours supersonic belong to a British France collaberation.

    1. Lotaresco

      Re: Engines & Turkey do we need to?

      "I am sure we could fund a British jet engine manufacturer to produce one, or even a European consortium."

      We used to have an all-weather combat proven VSTOL fighter that was perfect for carrier ops. Out government threw it away, remember? Now we get some bag of nails that carts around a "Lift System" that for most of the time is dead weight. But at least the lift system is British made. Hoorah! Let's wave a bulldog, drink some beer and drape ourselves in a flag.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "fighter that was perfect for carrier ops"

        Yes. Just today it is only perfect to take-off and land. Everything between would be very risky for an Harrier but in situations were air superiority has already been achieved (by a different plane, of course).

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "fighter that was perfect for carrier ops"

          The Harrier was always a highlight at St Louis when it appeared for the 4th of July fair and hovered over the Mississippi by the Arch. Never flew through the arch, so you have to admire their restraint - but someone else did. And someone, tragically, parachuted on to the top of the Arch, and then was blown to the side and down one of the legs. Apparently his plan was to do a second jump from the top of the Arch to the ground. Reports were he had an accomplice videotaping the feat who took off when things went pear shaped.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Engines & Turkey do we need to?

      Isn't Rolls-Royce already involved in the F-35 engines? Anyway, the distribution of assembly/maintenance plants is due mostly to political reasons, not technical ones.

      1. collinsl Silver badge

        Re: Engines & Turkey do we need to?

        Rolls Royce makes the lift system which bolts onto the engine. The engine itself is GE I believe.

        1. EnviableOne

          Re: Engines & Turkey do we need to?

          Rolls offered a full engine package, but LM went with the single supplier (USA based of course)

          Their engine was smaller cheaper and more powerful, it also mated with the lift gear better.

          I still think if they took Pegasus back to the drawing board, they could, without much effort improve it to power the Kestrel (a Harrier that can manage Mach 1 and still do VSTOL) that would be a third the price and three times as effective and infinatley more flexable than the F-35 (FFS the USMC are still flying harriers)

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