I think America will make the F-35 work. Don't panic. And for God's sake, Congress must not "do something."
I don't know about the charges that the F-35 is too expensive.
On Friday, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, verbalized the long-simmering frustration with the massive program’s costs and persistent technical problems when he said he wanted to “stop throwing money down that particular rathole. … Is there a way to not keep spending that much money for such a low capability?”
Low capability? Rathole? Seriously?
The F-35 is cheaper to build than our most advanced 4th generation fighters. And while maintenance is much higher, it is a stealth plane. So it should be more expensive to maintain.
Further, losses should be lower for the F-35 in combat than for 4th generation planes. How do you balance higher maintenance costs for the F-35 against higher losses of 4th generation planes and pilots in combat? I vote for the former.
And if maintenance costs are driven by shortages of parts and engines plus teething problems, that will change. Parts production will catch up with demand and bugs will be fixed.
The idea that we can ditch the plane--which seems to work so well that Israel wants more--is ludicrous. It is the only game in town even if I didn't think the problems will be worked out.
And yes, I have a small amount of Lockheed stock. But it is too small to affect my judgment. Remember, I was somewhat of a skeptic until I read reports about pilots loving the plane. And about once worried allies who ended up enthusiastically buying the plane:
Now that some F-35s are actually in service (F-35As and 35Bs) and getting good reviews from users sales are increasing. Maybe not, because there is a lot still to be discovered about how well the F-35 will do in comparison to the many F-16s, F-15s, F-18s and AV-8s it will replace.
Other factors may affect sales, but it won't be because the plane isn't good.
I'm so old I remember when the Abrams tank couldn't operate in the desert, and the Stinger anti-aircraft missile was too difficult to use. Thank God those weren't cancelled.
Sadly, it is easy to attack defense programs. And the F-35 is getting the heat now, including the nonsensical notion that because not all military problems involve major combat operations that the F-35 is a waste of money. Seriously. That author made that claim. "Visionaries" always like claim there are magical cheap ways to win wars.
Unfortunately, some Department of Defense programs deserve those attacks. Like the FCS. Or Crusader. Or KC-46. Or virtually any surface warship program the Navy has started since the successful Burke class. Things can change for the F-35 program, but so far the plane looks good and I'm comfortably confident problems will be worked out.
And I'm absolutely confident that ending the F-35 program and starting over is idiotic.
Don't fall for a possible continuation of the Russian misinformation campaign that tried to keep the F-35 out of production. Even the Russians know the F-35 is a winning plane.
UPDATE: Yes:
News outlets the world over may be claiming the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a failure–or even a dead program–but these sensational headlines aren’t all that accurate. Now, F-35 pilot, Podcast host, and Sandboxx News contributor Justin Lee has produced an in-depth video explaining why these recent hot takes are missing the mark on the F-35.
Those news stories are fully consistent with Russian and Chinese objectives to avoid American air superiority. Don't fall for this nonsense.
