Why Trillion-Dollar Estimates To Keep the F-35 Fighter Flying Are Really Misleading

[rangerrebew]

Apr 5, 2018 @ 11:56 AM

Why Trillion-Dollar Estimates To Keep the F-35 Fighter Flying Are Really Misleading

Loren Thompson , Contributor


The Pentagon's F-35 fighter may be this generation's most impressive expression of American innovation. The program has produced a multi-role airframe in multiple variants for three U.S. military services and a dozen allies that is essentially invisible to radar. It is close to completing a testing schedule of over 9,000 flights in which there have been no major mishaps, and is meeting all of its key performance requirements. In military exercises it easily defeats adversary aircraft, far surpassing the performance of legacy fighters.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2018/04/05/why-trillion-dollar-estimates-to-keep-the-f-35-fighter-flying-are-really-misleading/#66f0a0ba2466

[jpsb]

I hear it is a pig.

[GtHawk]

I hear it is a pig.

The same could be said for certain politicians, yet we still pay to keep them

[SZonian]

I hear it is a pig.

FTA:  "But if you are a typical consumer of news from the general media, you probably wouldn't know any of this. What you would hear instead is a litany of problems that makes the most capable and cost-effective tactical aircraft in the world sound like an Olympic-scale boondoggle."

Maybe a pilot who's flying them is a better source?
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2016/03/01/norwegian-f-35-pilot-counters-controversial-dogfighting-report/