How bad is it?
Problems
Aviation experts including present and former US Air Force and Naval officers and pilots oppose the development and acquisition of F-35 largely for technical reasons that make it unsafe, impractical and ineffectual. Scanning over the technical information, it can be inferred that the 5G technology that the F-35 should be fitted with does not yet fully exist. Though the aircraft can be flown, it is not yet fully deployed because it cannot yet do the jobs it was designed to do. In sum, its high tech is weighty and very complex; it requires 300,000 parts that must be acquired from 1500 international suppliers. Not only is it incredibly expensive, it requires more computer code than a space shuttle. Clients must find and assemble the digital technology themselves. They are not having much success, it appears.
Upon performing its annual review of the project, the Pentagon found 800 software defects. Defects were found in the two previous annual reviews.
The many problems clients and users are having with fitting the F-35s include the excess weight, which causes malfunctions and unreliability and makes retrofitting necessary. In 2013, retrofitting cost $1.7 billion USD. Parking and maintenance adds billions of dollars in costs, year by year. Thus, the actual cost over time far exceeds the initial purchase price. In 2017, the operating cost of an F-35A was $28,500 US per hour. The taxpayers in Canada, the US and Europe are expected to foot these bills.
Flying the F-35 with malfunctioning and unreliable add-ons is unsafe. It is meant to do first strike attacks. Other craft should continue the battle or assume defense. Deployed as it is designed to do, if properly equipped and running, the F-35 would lead with an attack then serve as the tactical center of a squadron during combat to gather, process and exchange data live with the engaged team.
Global Campaign
Groups in the US are campaigning against the US F-35 program. For example, Codepink is leading a petition called “Ground the F-35”. A US coalition submitted letters to congress. In Canada, a peace network of 45 groups is actively opposed “Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network”; as opponents have been doing in the US and Europe. Internationally, a coalition of around 220 organizations is engaging in activities to stop the F-35 program in places such as Kenya, Mexico, Paraguay, Switzerland, Germany and Spain.
The trillions that the US and its junior partners rob from working people to prepare for war against ‘enemy nations’ and enrich weapons manufacturers should be spent on building societies, not destroying them: education, environmental conservation, affordable housing, health and child care, and construction and maintenance of basic infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
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