Public Comment

The Pentagon is trapped in a Cold War mindset. The spending habits of the US government closely parallel the spending habits of many Americans. That is to say, they spend more than they earn. The F35 fighter plane is drowning in red ink. It is mired with technical issues and is generally considered unsafe to fly. This comes amidst a staggering federal deficits. Since about 2012, the official national debt has equaled or exceeded the GDP. Shockingly, the real fiscal gap is much higher when factoring in programs such as Medicare and Social Security. The US government spends more each than it takes in the form of taxes. Wealthy Americans use a host of schemes to minimize their taxes. Following Medicare and Social security and Covid related expenditures, is US defense expenditures. The name is a classic misnomer. The US military is not engaged in activities to defend the homeland but is obsessed with regime change with its coequal partner, the CIA. But that has left a gaping hole in cyber security which foreign actors have exploited with devastating impact. It may take decades to recover from the latest cyber-attack. The US military and the CIA, have done a poor job fighting wars (Vietnam. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya) but have engaged in covert operations destabilizing nations and intensifying anti-American sentiments. 

The School of the Americas strained many of the world’s west tyrants, including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras whose refugees are now fleeing north to the US. The US defense budget spends as much as the next ten advanced nations defense budgets combined including several who are US allies. Few politicians have the stomach to propose reducing the military budget out of fear of the opposition, with exception of Senator Bernie Sanders. The F-35 is by far the biggest boondoggle in the US DoD budget— is, the most expensive weapons system in history. And of course, the costs continue to go up, according to a recent DoD report. The Pentagon first put out the project for bids in 1996, and the first F-35s were manufactured and flown in 2006. However, it wasn’t until 2018 that they saw combat for the first time when Israel deployed them. Since then, the USMC, USAF, and RAF have used them in combat only rarely. For a plane that is supposed to be sufficiently versatile and modular to replace virtually all other combat aircraft, the F-35 has been a failure. 

Last year, Defense News identified 13 significant deficiencies in one or more F-35 models, including the possibility of a blown tire destroying the entire aircraft, inadequate vision and sensor systems, unable to fly too high, too fast, or in maneuvers. Other issues include logistical and security concerns. Former Senator Proxmire spent the better part of his career exposing Pentagon waste. So how does a project like this happen, and continue, despite chronic problems? The Pentagon quickly learned that such expensive projects have to be spread across multiple states with adequate funding. There are 1,400 subcontractors for the F-35 program spread out over 307 congressional districts in 45 states. That means there are 307 congressmen (out of 435) and 90 senators (out of 100) who have constituents whose livelihoods depends on continuing funding of the F35. 

So this a plane mired with technical issues but may never die.