Thursday, March 25, 2010

Time Magazine looks At The F-35 Fiasco



The Costly F-35: The Saga Of America's Next Fighter Jet -- Times Online

On a test flight over Maryland last week, the Pentagon's F-35 jet fighter landed vertically for the first time — like a helicopter — as it was vaunted to do. But just about the same time, its price tag was climbing in the other direction. A Swiss Army knife of the skies, it's designed for vertical take-off and landing to please the Marines and their smaller ships, while more conventional versions are slated to satisfy the demands of the Air Force and Navy. All of a sudden, however, the F-35 is in big trouble. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress that its recent cost and schedule snafus are "unacceptable." And while the Pentagon is not about to kill the program, the rush to push the plane down the assembly line and into the skies highlights the nation's continuing inability to pit its limited resources against real threats.

Read more ....

My Comment: Kudos to Time Magazine to finally cover the F-35 program fiasco. They are only a few years late when other bloggers .... like ELP Defens(c)e .... have been covering it for years.

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