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 […]
By Colin Flanders September 3, 2020 Burlington International Airport has received more than $6 million in federal grants to complete infrastructure upgrades and address noise concerns related to the controversial F-35 jets. The largest of the three grants awarded to the Burlington travel hub is a $3.49 million appropriation that will be used to soundproof Chamberlin Elementary […]