By: Aidan Quigley for VTDigger, Sept. 9, 2019 BURLINGTON — Police arrested two retired Air Force officers Monday evening for refusing to leave Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office in downtown Burlington, as part of an ongoing protest against the basing of F-35s at Burlington International Airport. Retired Col. Rosanne Greco and retired Lt. Col. Roger Bourassa […]
By: Ellen Mitchell for The Hill, Mar. 15, 2019 Pentagon officials did not account for and manage $2.1 billion worth of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter parts and must now rely on the aircraft’s maker, Lockheed Martin, to tell them where and when it spent the funds, according to a new watchdog report. The scathing report from the Defense […]
By Steve Dent for Endgadget.com, November 23, 2018 After years of cost overruns and criticism, the US military has started to deploy its stealth-enabled F-35 fighter jet. To communicate that message in no uncertain terms, the Air Force’s 388th and 419th Fighter Wings carried out combat exercises meant to test the capabilities of their F-35As. The drill […]
By: Cat Viglienzoni, Oct. 26, 2018 SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) Parts of the Vermont Air Guard base in South Burlington are nearly unrecognizable on the inside and out, buildings gutted and in the process of being revamped. “This is an exciting period for us,” said Col. David Smith, the commander of the 158th Fighter Wing. […]
Officials in the F-35 Joint Program Office are making paper reclassifications of potentially life-threatening design flaws to make them appear less serious, likely in an attempt to prevent the $1.5 trillion program from blowing through another schedule deadline and budget cap. The Center for Defense Information at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) obtained a […]
By: Brian Khan 7/30/18 N 47.51575°, W 123.52133°—Amid the panoply of greenery that makes up the Hoh Rainforest, a gap in the old growth forest arises. Well, more accurately it’s a gap in a tree—a hollow inside a towering sitka spruce that stands like an open door. Beyond it, a short game trail through ankle […]
July 3, 2018 A Senate committee has slammed the Pentagon’s beleaguered F-35 fighter jet program, for claiming that a $661mn spend on bulk-buying parts would help it save some $1.2 billion. The real amount is half that, it has been revealed. The Senate Appropriations Committee, which has recently greenlighted a boost in spending for the […]
June 5, 2018 DOD is getting closer to completing the F-35 program, but DOD’s plan to move into full-rate production without fixing key deficiencies brings into question the reliability and affordability of the aircraft. DOD has already requested $9.8 billion for 2019 and will ask for about $10.4 billion more per year over the next […]
By Jasper Craven June 3, 2018 In an undated internal analysis of press coverage tied to the proposed basing of F-35 fighter jets at Burlington International Airport, Vermont Air National Guard leaders detailed five potential media questions “We Hope We Don’t Get.” The first four dreaded questions were often asked throughout the years-long debate over […]