While the left and politicians promote this view that the F-35 is a huge white elephant
Flight tests are lagging, costs are skyrocketing, and overseas partners are beginning to get cold feet.the facts on the ground say otherwise:
For the third straight year flight tests are ahead of schedule, the cost to build each plane is falling fast, and international partners are so enthused that new customers are getting in line for the F-35 on a regular basis (South Korea will be next).Hang on, how come everybody is reporting the former and not the latter? I mean, why is nobody coming out with:
Pentagon officials recently disclosed that the cost of building and operating the F-35 had risen to $1.5 trillion — without mentioning that a third of that total is unprovable estimates of future inflation and two-thirds of supposed increases from the program baseline reflect changes in how costs are calculated rather than real increases. Officials also didn’t mention it would cost two or three times more to stick with the current fleet of fighters, given the cost of maintaining ageing aircraft.Or with:
F-35 is well on its way to being the most capable, cost-effective tactical aircraft in the history of warfare, and you can see that fact clearly reflected in how the flight-test program is progressing, the production cost is falling, and other countries are jockeying to get the plane.Which is why after ordering 20 F-35s, Israel is looking at ordering another 20. Add the advanced electronic suite which only Israel can add and it looks like the IDF will be playing around with one of the most advanced versions of the most advanced plane the world will see over the next few years.
