April 30, 2024 By Chris Gordon During a House Armed Services Committee hearing on April 30, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III defended the F-35 program against criticisms of its high cost and operational challenges. Lawmakers like Rep. Matt Gaetz raised concerns about the program’s sustainment costs, which are projected to exceed $1.5 trillion. […]
by The Other Paper September 6, 2024, 6:16 pm The Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport has made significant progress with its residential sound insulation program, launched in 2022 to mitigate aircraft noise for nearby residents. The program has completed work on 15 homes, with plans to soundproof 65 more by the end of 2024 and […]
By: COURTNEY LAMDIN Date: October 11, 2023 Jennifer Bouffard and her family, who live near the Burlington International Airport, rejected an offer from the airport to buy their home due to jet noise years ago. Since then, the louder F-35 jets have replaced the Vermont Air National Guard’s F-16s. Four years after the introduction of […]
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.