Navy lines up behind the F-35

You've heard the old saying "attitude is everything?"  Well, it may not be "everything" but it is vitally important, many times making the difference between success and failure.  Part of a winning attitude is overcoming obstacles and gaining success.

No one denies the F-35 program has faced it's share of obstacles, but as the USMC Commandant said, every new aircraft suffers teething problems.   The F-35 program has progressed well the last two years and now enters it's most important phase of testing. While it obviously "has to work",  a winning attitude sure doesn't hurt.

We've all read any number of articles that have intimated that the Navy isn't behind the program.  Well, if that was true, I don't think it is true anymore.  That is, if you believe the deputy program director for that service:

Rear Adm. Randolph L. Mahr, deputy program executive officer for the F-35, said “ We’re not going to focus on the past. What’s past is done. In 2001, the United States government made a choice on which aircraft to develop and we’re going to bring it across the finish line,” Mahr said.

The Marine Corps will receive an operational aircraft in summer of 2015, Mahr said. “Put it on your calendars,” he said.

“The United States Marine Corps is holding us to that date. The United States Air Force is right behind them. Our partner nations are right behind them.”That's the sort of attitude that will put the aircraft in the field on time.  And Mahr isn't the only Navy officer saying that sort of thing:

He's not the only officer saying those sorts of things. Recently the CNO said the Navy was "all in" for the F-35. And the commander of Naval Air Systems Command had this to say:

“We are now in the meat of this program,” said Vice Adm. David Dunaway, commander of Naval Air Systems Command, said April 10 at the Navy League’s annual Sea Air Space symposium at National Harbor, Md. “We’ve come a long way to get here. We’re now to the part that is really important. This is where the rubber is going to meet the road and we’re going to succeed or we’re going to fail.” 

And, unspoken but true, failure is not an option.

Graff