F-35 fiasco continues

The news yesterday that the entire 51 aircraft fleet of F-35 "proto-types" has once again been grounded doesn't come as a surprise to anyone who has been following this debacle.

The "F" in F-35 stands for "fiasco". The aircraft is too heavy, too complicated, too limited in range, and technologically obsolete. Owing to advances in detection technology it is no longer a "stealth" aircraft.

It is also far too expensive, both for the US and the program partners in NATO. Not only that, but it's redundant in the kind of asymmetrical wars of choice that America has been choosing in the post-Cold War era.

But according to some of its fans the F-35 program is too big to cancel. Indeed, the Joint Strike Fighter gravy train now rolls through no less than 45 US states and employs over 133,000 Americans.

If that's what makes it too big to pull the plug on, the bean-counters and policy-analysts should be sent home for a rethink. Since those 133,000 are essentially on the public payroll anyway, they could be put to work doing something useful that would benefit society for generations. 

Like rebuilding bridges and sewers, building affordable housing, cleaning up blighted urban neighborhoods; useful stuff that would improve the quality of life for all Americans.