U.S. Air Force photo by R. Nial Bradshaw
Julian Macfarlane: Too Expensive To Use; Too Expensive To Lose
The F35 is the greatest boondoggle in American history, as one writer says, “too expensive to use, too expensive to lose”. Over its lifespan, it will cost the American taxpayer $1.7 trillion. An f35B costs $138 million dollars and over $36,000 an hour to operate.
Intended to replace the F16, the F35 is slow, maneuvers sluggishly and cannot fire its new lightweight Gatling without destroying the housing and the airplane. It suffers from 13 “class one” defects that endanger both the aircraft and its crew. And 871 flaws that must be corrected before it can be fully operational — in 5 years.
Still, the US has managed to force this aerial junk on a lot of its allies, most recently the UAE, which has prompted the Israelis, who have two squadrons the F35 and mostly use it for PR, to ask for the F22, which, of course, they can only afford to buy with American money.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: It still staggers me that it costs over $36,000 an hour to operate the F-35.
3 comments:
Well, easy criticisms. Yes there are a lot of problems but, almost all military programs had a chaotic beginning. And, of course, every body wish the operating cost of the F-35 will be the same as the Spitfire one. Just wait and see.
F-35s will be trying to figure out how to get close enough to the fight to do some good (and survive) as Army and Navy long range surface to surface fires are hitting targets.
Proof is how upset Air Force senior officers get when anyone mentions long range precision fires. You know you’re on target when they start screaming.
We left out a class on economics in officer candidate school.
Post a Comment