I am not surprised at all by this news. It matches perfectly my experience working in the military aerospace industry for 25 years before giving up and entering medical school....
From today's online Wall Street Journal...
Air Force Says
...Lockheed says problem-free F-22s are coming off of its Marietta, Ga., production line and the plane represents a known quantity, with one F-22 capable of replacing two older F-15 fighters. "We're trying to make the point that this isn't a decision you get back," said Lockheed's Larry Lawson, general manager of the F-22 program.
(emphasis mine)
This is what has happened to every major defense program of the past 20+ years...cut back, cut back, cut back... especially when Demos are in charge. I worked on the B-2 program for most of my 25 years as an engineer, and I watched that program go from 132 aircraft to an (almost) irrelevant 20, plus one or 2 token plus-ups added by Pres Clinton as a phony gesture to defense hawks in his attempts to move to the center....
This is one reason why engineers are hard to find in the US. We can no longer manage a Manhattan Project or Race to the Moon, and I think that all these Green Manufacturing Economy ideas are complete fantasies. Smart students no longer want to enter engineering, and especially defense-related engineering, because there is absolutely ZERO career stability. Every year the program you are working on is threatened with reduction or elimination, and big exciting programs like the B-2 or F-22 are always targeted, and not only by the military-hating pols and groups. It is impossible to raise your family, save for retirement, put your children thru college, and perhaps support your church and community and enjoy life some when you are CONSTANTLY worried that your project will be eliminated.
Please dont tell me that I am belly-aching, that this is how it is in every field of endeavor. I dont buy that. We that work, or have worked, in the national defense industry trade economic freedom for some expected benefits. In the defense industry, we have essentially a single customer - the US Military and, by extension, the population of the country. Foreign military sales are a relatively recent aspect of that industry, and are not a good thing but are instead a symptom of the problems with the industry - not enough purchases by your main customer, uncertain procurements, broken promises every 1-2-4-8 years, etc. I have also worked on foreign military sales programs, and they are very poor shadow of their US DOD counterparts.
Our single customer dictates how much we can charge, how much profit can be made, demands ownership of all work product - all things that do not happen in other work fields. It is true that the development of a product is paid for by the customer, but this is to be expected - can anyone imagine a company developing a product like the F-22 or B2 on their own nickel and then selling it to the US military. The commercial airplane manufacturer Boeing, and the others that have since disappeared - I have worked for both Douglas Aircraft and Boeing - develop their aircraft "product" on their own because they can sell them to companies around the world. This would never happen with important military products like the B-2 or F-22. Even foreign military sales version of US weapon systems like the F-15, F-16, and soon the F-22 are HIGHLY regulated by the US customer before the sale ever is approved. This is not the case for commercial products, at least not nearly to the same extent.
I wanted the blogosphere to have my words on this subject. I gave up on military engineering several years ago, and switched to a full-time medical career in 2007 after preparing part time for the previous 4 years. This essential industry is going the same way of all US manufacturing, although a little more slowly.
I will discourage my children from ever considering an engineering career, and especially in aerospace. It is a career choice full of disappointment and uncertainty lacking in real advancement potential.
Boys - Choose Medicine or Law.
From today's online Wall Street Journal...
Air Force Says
Fewer F-22s Needed
...Lockheed says problem-free F-22s are coming off of its Marietta, Ga., production line and the plane represents a known quantity, with one F-22 capable of replacing two older F-15 fighters. "We're trying to make the point that this isn't a decision you get back," said Lockheed's Larry Lawson, general manager of the F-22 program.
(emphasis mine)
This is what has happened to every major defense program of the past 20+ years...cut back, cut back, cut back... especially when Demos are in charge. I worked on the B-2 program for most of my 25 years as an engineer, and I watched that program go from 132 aircraft to an (almost) irrelevant 20, plus one or 2 token plus-ups added by Pres Clinton as a phony gesture to defense hawks in his attempts to move to the center....
This is one reason why engineers are hard to find in the US. We can no longer manage a Manhattan Project or Race to the Moon, and I think that all these Green Manufacturing Economy ideas are complete fantasies. Smart students no longer want to enter engineering, and especially defense-related engineering, because there is absolutely ZERO career stability. Every year the program you are working on is threatened with reduction or elimination, and big exciting programs like the B-2 or F-22 are always targeted, and not only by the military-hating pols and groups. It is impossible to raise your family, save for retirement, put your children thru college, and perhaps support your church and community and enjoy life some when you are CONSTANTLY worried that your project will be eliminated.
Please dont tell me that I am belly-aching, that this is how it is in every field of endeavor. I dont buy that. We that work, or have worked, in the national defense industry trade economic freedom for some expected benefits. In the defense industry, we have essentially a single customer - the US Military and, by extension, the population of the country. Foreign military sales are a relatively recent aspect of that industry, and are not a good thing but are instead a symptom of the problems with the industry - not enough purchases by your main customer, uncertain procurements, broken promises every 1-2-4-8 years, etc. I have also worked on foreign military sales programs, and they are very poor shadow of their US DOD counterparts.
Our single customer dictates how much we can charge, how much profit can be made, demands ownership of all work product - all things that do not happen in other work fields. It is true that the development of a product is paid for by the customer, but this is to be expected - can anyone imagine a company developing a product like the F-22 or B2 on their own nickel and then selling it to the US military. The commercial airplane manufacturer Boeing, and the others that have since disappeared - I have worked for both Douglas Aircraft and Boeing - develop their aircraft "product" on their own because they can sell them to companies around the world. This would never happen with important military products like the B-2 or F-22. Even foreign military sales version of US weapon systems like the F-15, F-16, and soon the F-22 are HIGHLY regulated by the US customer before the sale ever is approved. This is not the case for commercial products, at least not nearly to the same extent.
I wanted the blogosphere to have my words on this subject. I gave up on military engineering several years ago, and switched to a full-time medical career in 2007 after preparing part time for the previous 4 years. This essential industry is going the same way of all US manufacturing, although a little more slowly.
I will discourage my children from ever considering an engineering career, and especially in aerospace. It is a career choice full of disappointment and uncertainty lacking in real advancement potential.
Boys - Choose Medicine or Law.
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