(Washington) The F35 jet program has been derided by a large number of people due to politics: Too expensive, too slow, too complicated, too late. Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pulled out of the program, deciding that handing over a large amount of money to an Islamic terrorist was a far better way to spend the taxpayers money. The fact remains building a stealth aircraft isn't easy, ask Russia, (still having lots of issues) or China (not fully stealth) Yet the US no has 4 stealth aircraft (F117, B2, F22 ,F35) under its belt.
Well, despite all the negative press, the F35 is flying, in service with 10 nations with over 231 planes delivered as of March 2017. 11 nations have decided to purchase the craft, with only Denmark (Which ordered 27 last year) still to received the plane) like many other weapons systems it takes time for their full potential to be realised. (Just look at the P51 Mustang, which started life with a Allison V-1710 engine. However when the RAF swapped that engine for the world famous Merlin engine as found in the Spitfire, the Mustang became one of the best fighters during WW2).
The F35 is maturing and lets not forget, that it isn't one plane but rather 3:
F35A Land based
F35B VTOL
F35C Carrier based
Things weren't helped by the previous US administration which had used the excuse that nobody else will build a stealth aircraft to stop production at 187 F22 aircraft (big mistake) cancelled the development of the second engine for the F35 in 2014. Thus placing all the eggs in one basket regards power for the F35.
Anyway as mentioned the F35 is up and running and whilst politicians all over the world scream that the plane isn't fit for purpose (Usually in which to lobby for a cheaper aircraft) they leave out that anti-aircraft technology in the form of missiles as sold by Russia,China ,Iran and North Korea to anybody who is willing to pay will make all non stealth aircraft vulnerable to attack.. Nations such as Iran, North Korea,Syria, Turkey,Egypt, Algeria,Sudan and Venezuela all field the latest Anti-aircraft missile systems and whilst I don't advocate war with anybody, nobody knows exactly what is around the corner. which kind of explains why Israel has decided to buy 100 F35s.
Well these past few weeks has seen 3 more nations looking at purchasing the F35: the UAE, Saudi Arabia and now Germany have all seen the light and realised that the F35 is the way to go. Maybe its time we stopped caring about the feelings of those who hate us, and spend a little more money on equipping those who keep us safe with the best that money can buy.
