F35 Rollout Worse Than Healthcare.Gov
I wonder if the Republicans in Congress will convene hearings to investigate the problem-plagued rollout of the new F-35 Fighter jets. Will they insist that this is “proof” the government has no business getting involved in air defense systems?
At least the Healthcare.gov rollout did not cause any explosions. In addition, the F35 program has cost taxpayers almost $400 billion so far. By comparison, HealthCare.gov even by the most overstated estimates cost $634 million or about 15 hundredths of one percent of the cost of the F35 program.
I would say that the Pentagon should contact whomever it was that paid the $634 million and ask them for their cost-saving tips.
Eric Trommater July 7th, 2014 at 7:35 pm
I don’t care if they blow up I still want one. It will be worth all the costs over runs if I can use it to get revenge on just one of my enemies. I’m looking at you, kid who pantsed me in 4th grade!
tiredoftea July 7th, 2014 at 7:58 pm
Start being friends with Larry Ellison. He’s got a couple of MiG-29’s in his garage and I’m sure there’s room for an F-35.
fancypants July 11th, 2014 at 9:22 pm
Don’t worry about it eric. You cant afford the fuel and besides there are no flight lessons so you wont get this bird off the ground either.
just throw rocks like the rest of us
Obewon July 7th, 2014 at 7:50 pm
Unlike the F-35 joint strike fighter rising costs, CBO scores $1.5 T federal deficit reductions from 85% of state exchange enrollees paying their premiums via 10 states releasing that data separately http://acasignups.net/14/03/21/paidunpaid-brouhaha-updated As of June 30, 2014: HC.Gov 7.60M (Paid) / 8.60M Total of the ACA’s 24 Million to 29 Million now covered by OcamaCare’s http://acasignups.net/
mea_mark July 7th, 2014 at 7:51 pm
It is so over budget and such a disaster sometimes I think it is a smoke screen and they are funneling lots of money to some secret high tech drone program that is going to replace the F35 shortly anyways. Not that I am conspiracy nut like Alex Jones but if the technology is similar it seems like it could be done without people really noticing. Drones really are the future and the F35 will probably be the last manned fighter jet we make. Why not secretly start on the next thing now and just skip the F35 as a real project and just make a handful of prototypes that are really nothing more than manned test vehicles for the next stage of drone warfare.
Obewon July 7th, 2014 at 8:03 pm
Great points! We even have a secret Space Shuttle robotic X-37B space plane drone. http://www.space.com/25245-secret-x37b-space-plane-orbital-record.html Drone’s are far more, accurate, cost efficient and reduce the manpower required for defense aviation and satellite recon. The Predator C Avenger production model rolls out in 2017.
tiredoftea July 7th, 2014 at 8:05 pm
Considering that it was proposed about twenty years ago to replace F-15 and F-16’s, it’s a real project that the defense industry sank our money into. As a multi-purpose fighter that was designed to be all things to all services, the complexities are enormous.
But, that’s just a long winded way of saying that there’s no amount of money too large and no failed project too useless for the defense industry to not keep lobbying Congress for the fix that’s just around the next appropriation.
mea_mark July 7th, 2014 at 8:20 pm
Real projects can and often do change overtime. It just looks kind of suspicious. Not that I am saying I really believe what I am saying, but sometimes I do wonder. The problems with overactive imaginations …
tiredoftea July 7th, 2014 at 8:36 pm
Alex, is that you Alex?
Dwendt44 July 8th, 2014 at 12:04 am
Defense contractors have a way of getting contracts for weapons systems that don’t work, that cost way to much, and that the military doesn’t want or need.
Witness the ridiculous Abram’s Tank rebuild contracts. The Army has more tanks than it wants or needs now, yet the rebuilding facilities are still running full blast redoing worn out or damaged tanks.
tiredoftea July 8th, 2014 at 12:06 am
True, and we can thank every Congress critter who has a defense contractor or defense supplier of any size in their voting district to thank for their zeal in spending needlessly to keep the war machine going.
Anomaly 100 July 7th, 2014 at 8:23 pm
Oh no, you see this is different because war.
Dwendt44 July 8th, 2014 at 12:00 am
The F35 is/was to be the high tech replacement for F-15/F16 which are already the most ‘sophisticated’ front line fighter. While the F35 may well be better in many ways, it’s also amazingly expensive. Updated versions of F15/F16 would have cost a lot less; the F22 would also be less expensive.. But then certain Congressmen wouldn’t be pleased, the Air Force wouldn’t be happy and the lobbyists wouldn’t be doing their jobs.
tiredoftea July 8th, 2014 at 12:07 am
And the Harrier and the F-18. It’s never been done, and likely hasn’t yet been done to any great degree of accomplishment.
craig7120 July 8th, 2014 at 8:51 am
*Golf clap*
It takes special skill to produce nothing for 400 billion.
I guess we’re lucky, while hating us for our freedom, terrorists choose a different mode of an attack than fighter jets.