Shitty super-weapons

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 is on track to replace almost all of the existing tactical jets in the Air Force and Marines Corps plus some in the Navy and many planes in allied air forces.

On Dec. 22, Lockheed announced it had delivered 36 F-35s in 2014. Two of those went to Australia. Lockheed handed over 23 F-35As to the U.S. Air Force, four F-35Bs to the Marines and seven F-35Cs to the Navy.

“Thousands of men and women produced the 300,000 individual parts from 46 U.S. states and 10 other countries to make these stealth fighters,” said Air Force lieutenant general Chris Bogdan, F-35 program head. “They should be proud of their accomplishment.”

But the truth is the F-35 is a mess. After years of development, the plane’s software still doesn’t work. In June, the military grounded the planes when one of them caught fire on a runway in Florida.

It’s also the most expensive weapons program ever. How expensive? Well … it’s complicated. The costs change depending on who you ask.

A Congressional study of the F-35 program from back in April pegs the cost of the program at $5.1 billion in 2014. But there are hidden costs for design fixes and the planes’ engines.

A Senate Appropriations Committee report on 2015 appropriations explains the actual cost of the F-35. In 2014, the U.S. spent $4 billion for F-35As, $928 million for F-35Bs and $1.9 billion for F-35Cs.

That’s almost $7 billion for just 34 new planes.

Add to that recent allegations of collusion between Lockheed execs and Defense Department contract managers. Apparently they conspired to keep F-35 prices high.

“It is the kind of cronyism that should make us all vigilant against … the military-industrial complex,” Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said in June.

Despite the troubles, on Nov. 21 the Pentagon announced it had signed another deal with Lockheed, promising to pay $4.8 billion for an eighth batch of the warplanes. Again, there will be hidden costs on top of that.

“The F-35 is coming to eat us all alive, there’s no way to sugar-coat it,” Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at Teal Group, told Intelligent Aerospace. “The F-35 is devouring everything.”