America’s new stealth jet, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, sounds impressive on paper, but it may be the country’s biggest waste of taxpayer money yet. Costing approximately $1.4 trillion dollars, the airplane is a perfect example of exorbitant spending on an overblown military budget – especially when one takes into consideration that it won’t even be capable of firing its gun until 2019.
That’s right, it will be another 3 or 4 years until the F-35 becomes operational due to software issues. And, because three services (the US Air Force, Navy, and Marines) each want one, the model is overloaded and does nothing well. The jet is too bulky to function as an air-to-air combat jet and can’t function in support due to its lack of fuel.
US Uncut relays that the jet has been grounded 13 times due to takeoff issues since 2007. And in 2008, the corporation tested the F-35 in a simulated air battle with China. Guess what happened? The jet’s performance was deemed “double-inferior,” and officials warned that the investment “can’t turn, can’t climb, can’t run.”
According to Pierre Sprey, one of the three men that created the F-16, the point of this plane is “to spend money.” He says the F-35 is “inherently a terrible airplane because it’s an airplane built for a dumb idea. As soon as you go to design a multi-mission airplane, you’re sunk.”
In the video below, he summarizes,
“that is the mission of the airplane, is for the US Congress to send money to Lockheed [Martin].
To date, the U.S. has already spent approximately $400 billion on the jet which was designed by top defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The Pentagon’s ultimate intention is to purchase 2,443 jets to “modernize” the current fleet of fighter jets.
It’s difficult to wrap one’s head around how much $1.4 trillion is, but let’s put it into perspective. If the government were to scrap this one crappy jet, every student could be afforded FREE tuition for the next 23 years. Which would you prefer your taxpayer dollars supported?
In the end, education will further humanity far more than a single fighter jet ever will.
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