By Joshua Krause
For over a decade the US military has spent $1.5 trillion dollars to
create an all-purpose fighter jet that would replace their diverse fleet
of warplanes. It’s a project that has been rife with criticism for
being grossly over budget and delayed for years, not to mention the fact
that the plane is riddled with technical flaws and lacks maneuverability (most recently, it was revealed that the F-35 has a faulty radar
that needs to be frequently restarted). And each of these problem prone
aircraft cost 3 to 5 times as much to manufacture as older fighter
jets, like the F-15 and F-16.Now officials with the Pentagon are admitting that this massive boondoggle is a total bust. One official admitted that to replace the Air Force’s entire fleet, which was the original intention of the F-35 program, they would have eliminate a fifth of their squadrons to afford it. Two generals said that the whole idea of an all-purpose aircraft was flawed from the start, and the Pentagon is already planning a 6th generation fighter jet to replace the F-35.
To maintain any semblance of air superiority, the military will be forced to maintain their older weapon systems alongside the F-35 until a replacement is made, which is the ultimate proof that the concept of an all-purpose fighter jet is a complete failure. By the time the next generation fighter is in production, which is expected by the year 2040, our fleet of F-15s and F-16s will be 70 years old and completely outclassed by Chinese and Russian aircraft.
What’s worse is that even though the military hates this plane, they can’t scrap the project. Too much money has been spent to back out now, which you might recognize as the same logical fallacy that keeps compulsive gamblers from walking away from slot machines.
In addition to this, over 1,300 suppliers employing 133,000 people in 45 states, are responsible for building the F-35. This means that most members of Congress will be unwilling to vote down the project, for fear of killing jobs in their districts. So for the next few decades, the military is stuck with this faulty aircraft, and the taxpayers are stuck with the bill.
