R.I.P. F-14 Tomcat....

[cjolley]

The software thing is not uncommon even in non defense settings.
We (county government) will not buy custom (meaning not off the shelf) software without access to the source code.
Why? Well because if they go out of business, or deside they just don't like us any more we still need to have the software maintained, even if we have to do it ourselves.
This has actually happend a few times.
I doubt the Brits will give in on this if they are supposedly a partner in the venture, as opposed to buying the jet from us "off the shelf".

[GT98]

Reguarding the F-35 Lightning 2 project with the Brits, its been taken care of already, with Bush and Blair trumping Anglo-US ties and what not. Nice way to policize something This happened in the Early summer time, I'll see if I can find some links. Plus I'd wouldn't trust the British Media, they are just as bad as their US counterparts from my short experance there last week.

I also read today that the vast majorty of F-14s are quickly going to the shredder as soon as possible. The reason for this is to prevent the parts ending up on the blackmarket and going to Iran. There was already a NICS bust on this!