Just a couple of months ago Defense Minister Peter MacKay and Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta stood on a podium an assured the world that all was well with the F-35 strike fighter program, of which Canada has committed to at least 65.
While writing about the Heritage Foundation being influenced by their benefactors, in this case the developer of the F-35, the four co-authors of The Heritage Foundation then and now had this to say about the greatest fighter plane ever built:
15 years ago the inevitable failure of the F-35 as a viable combat aircraft was already clear, though not as crushingly obvious as it is to today. In 2012, with the airplane just 20 per cent through its entirely inadequate flight test plan (over 80 per cent of the airplane’s performance characteristics will remain untested in any planned flight test), we already know we are facing across-the-board failures to meet original specifications. Moreover, if the F-35 lived up to 100 percent of its depressingly modest design specifications, it would still be a complete failure in combat utility: a bomber of shorter range, lower payload and far higher vulnerability than the Vietnam War’s appallingly flammable, underperforming F-105 Lead Sled; an air-to-air fighter so unmaneuverable and sluggish in acceleration that any ancient MiG-21 will tear it to shreds; and a close support fighter that is a menace to our troops on any battlefield, unable to hit camouflaged tactical targets and incapable of distinguishing friendly soldiers from enemies.
Any way we can get out of this deal?
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