3. Technological Disaster

By: Nick Visser for Huffpost, Mar. 21, 2019 Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is under investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general over ties to his former employer, the aerospace juggernaut Boeing. The Defense Department said Wednesday it had opened an ethics investigation into complaints that allege Shanahan regularly touted Boeing over other defense contractors, including […]

By: “Task and Purpose” for The National Interest, Mar. 20, 2019 In February, the commander of the U.S. Naval Air Forces  proclaimed that the Navy’s F-35C Joint Strike Fighter was “ready for operations, ready for combat and ready to win” — even though the Navy’s own testing data says otherwise. Testing data  obtained by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO)  indicates that […]

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Richard Czaplinski on behalf of the members of the Will Miller Green Mountain Veterans For Peace, Chapter 57. Czaplinski, of Warren, is a U.S. Navy veteran and the president of the group. In all the controversy and discussion about the F-35s coming to Burlington (jobs, noise, dangers to surrounding […]

By: Jess Aloe for the Burlington Free Press, Oct. 29, 2018 The Vermont Air National Guard is still on track to begin receiving 20 F-35A jets next September, according to the 158th Fighter Wing’s commanding officer—even after the Pentagon grounded the entire F-35 fleet following a crash in South Carolina. Inspectors checked fuel tubes on […]

By: Gina Hawkins for Military.com, August 31, 2018 The Pentagon is downplaying major F-35 Joint Strike Fighter design flaws that could leave service members at risk in an effort to keep the long-scrutinized program on schedule, a watchdog group warned this week. A military review board met in June to look at some of the […]

By: Jasper Craven for VTDigger, Oct. 16, 2018 After the Pentagon grounded its entire fleet of F-35 fighter jets last week following the aircraft’s first crash, Vermont’s political leaders stressed the need to diagnose and remediate the issue that caused the accident, but offered no concerns over plans to make the state’s air national guard […]

From the BBC, Oct. 11, 2018 Some of the most cutting-edge weapons in the US’s military arsenal can be “easily hacked” using “basic tools”, a government report has concluded. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found “mission-critical” cyber-vulnerabilities in nearly all weapons systems tested between 2012 and 2017. That includes the newest F-35 jet as well […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon on Thursday ordered a temporary pause in all F-35 fighter jet flights in order to inspect the fleet in the wake of a crash last month in South Carolina. The decision involves a potentially bad fuel tube and affects more than 250 U.S.-owned jets, as well as nearly 100 that […]

By: Andrew Dyer for San Diego Tribune, Oct. 5, 2018 The crash of a Marine F-35B in South Carolina last week has some residents concerned about the jet’s impending arrival at Marine Corps Station Miramar in 2020. The Marine F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter attached to an East Coast training squadron crashed on Sept. […]