Is The F-35 Upending The Whole Global Arms Bazaar

An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter on display at naval yard in Maryland in January. A critical area, indeed. (Yuri Gripas / Reuters)

Super-Costly F-35s, A Global Wrecking Ball -- Brian Stewart, CBC

There is a stark lesson in the escalating cost nightmare of the F-35 fighter jets that holds more ominous implications for Washington than even for Canada's Harper government.

Quite simply, it is that allied Western nations are finding the once-vaunted high-tech American weaponry no longer politically affordable. Not in large numbers.

Canada's grief over its share of the F-35 price tag — now estimated to be almost $46 billion over 42 years — has been shared by a half-dozen countries, including Britain, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands, which have been forced to either cut back on their orders or contemplate outright cancellation.

This political fallout is upending the whole global arms bazaar. Around the world, America's big-ticket defence items are being increasingly challenged by cheaper products from Europe and now Asia as well.

Read more ....

My Comment: Brian Stewart is right .... the U.S. is pricing themselves out of the market for some of their high budget items. And for countries like Canada .... the dollars involved do not make any sense. 46 billion over 42 years for 65 F-35 jets .... you gotta be kidding me.