BY DAN GRAZIER JUNE 08, 2023 The Air Force’s top civilian leader says the F-35 program taught everyone how not to buy a fighter jet and vows not to repeat the mistakes that turned history’s most expensive weapon program into an absolute boondoggle. While it is refreshing to hear an official acknowledge some of the […]
BY ALFRED MEYER MARCH 27, 2023 1:01 PM While Tom Cruise heroically flies fighter jets in the film Top Gun: Maverick, which was vying for an Oscar for Best Film this year, two communities in the United States—Burlington, Vermont, and Madison, Wisconsin—are contending with the dangers caused by the basing of F-35s in residential neighborhoods. […]
BY SEAN MCFATE March 11, 2021 It’s official: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a “rathole” of taxpayer money, something defense experts already knew — at least those without dubious ties to the military industrial blob. Now the House Armed Services Committee chairman has joined the ranks of the outraged, saying that when he thinks […]
By Stephen Losey Oct 20, 2021 WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the White House to fully fund the F-35 Lightning II program in the coming years. But Senate appropriators are raising concerns about maintenance challenges facing the advanced fifth-generation fighter, and this week questioned the need to buy more F-35s right […]
by Winslow Wheeler & Dan Grazier April 07, 2021 Official support for the F-35 program has quickly eroded during the first three months of 2021. In the waning days of the Trump administration, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller called it a “piece of s..t.” The Air Force chief of staff, General Charles Brown Jr., […]
By The Editorial Board March 12, 2021 Last week, the new head of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Adam Smith, said in an interview that the F-35 fighter jet was a “rathole” draining money. He said the Pentagon should consider whether to “cut its losses.” That promptly set off another round of groaning about […]
The Pentagon has spent about $1.7 trillion on a jet that Trump loved to talk about. But the military never got its money’s worth. MSNBC’s Brian Williams explains. Aired on 02/25/2021.
By David Axe February 23, 2021 The U.S. Air Force’s top officer wants the service to develop an affordable, lightweight fighter to replace hundreds of Cold War-vintage F-16s and complement a small fleet of sophisticated—but costly and unreliable—stealth fighters. The result would be a high-low mix of expensive “fifth-generation” F-22s and F-35s and inexpensive “fifth-generation-minus” […]
By Courtney Lamdin October 29, 2020 A sizable contribution from a Vermont utility will help soundproof buildings in three Chittenden County cities affected by F-35 jet noise, officials said Thursday. Vermont Gas Systems will kick in $550,000 for Burlington International Airport’s noise mitigation program in fiscal year 2021. The amount covers the required 10 percent […]
By Grace Elletson September 27, 2020 Jen Lazer didn’t think that motherhood in Burlington, Vermont, would include desensitizing her baby to the frequent roar of F-35 fighter jets. “She stares at the sky and shakes and cries and grabs me. She thrusts her head into my chest,” Lazer said. “We explain that there are machines […]