Examples of mission creep and overloading a design abound. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has flirted with this problem. Back in the 1960s, there was the F-111, which was supposed to serve a variety of both land-based and carrier-based roles. It turned out to be a white elephant.
Yes, the F-111 is a particularly good example. Another is the Royal Navy's CVA-01 program of the 1960s, intended to produce a new aircraft carrier. Four ships were projected but the program was cancelled before any were laid down. What killed CVA-01 was wrangling between the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury over the ship's size and cost. A carrier large enough to accommodate a useful number of aircraft was always too pricey, despite numerous, supposedly innovative, tweaks to the design.
Examples of mission creep and overloading a design abound. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has flirted with this problem. Back in the 1960s, there was the F-111, which was supposed to serve a variety of both land-based and carrier-based roles. It turned out to be a white elephant.
Yes, the F-111 is a particularly good example. Another is the Royal Navy's CVA-01 program of the 1960s, intended to produce a new aircraft carrier. Four ships were projected but the program was cancelled before any were laid down. What killed CVA-01 was wrangling between the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury over the ship's size and cost. A carrier large enough to accommodate a useful number of aircraft was always too pricey, despite numerous, supposedly innovative, tweaks to the design.