Marine Corps get first F-35, but with no weapons or the right gear

[unhappycamper]

http://rt.com/usa/news/first-f-35-weapons-lockheed-085/




Marine Corps get first F-35, but with no weapons or the right gear
Published: 19 November, 2012, 21:42

Lockheed Martin has started to send F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets to the Marine Corps, but the finishing touches on the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons acquisition ever are still years away.

The Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona received their first F-35 JSF on Friday, but the pricey airplane won’t be pulverizing targets at subsonic speeds anytime soon. The Pentagon hopes that the Yuma base will soon be home to the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, the first arsenal of the aircraft that will be deployed for military missions. Meanwhile, however, Lockheed Martin, the Defense Department contractor tasked with completing an order for the planes that is perpetually pushed back as more and more obstacles amount, has more work to do.

~snip~

In September, the incoming director of the F-35 program blasted Lockheed Martin for blowing through the resources the United States had allowed for the program, which was slated from the beginning to be the priciest weapons purchase for the Pentagon yet. Several years down the road, though, complications are keeping the future of the craft so uncertain that other nations have already reconsidered their contracts with Lockheed pending how America’s purchase ends up.

~snip~

So far the F-35 program has set the Pentagon back $395.7 billion, or 70 percent more than they initially planned on spending. But while a finished product is still years down the road, the primitive model being touted around the Yuma base is apparently being used to show that the strikers will soon be ready, hell or high water. In the meantime, though, there isn’t much they can do with the craft.



unhappycamper comment: Ka Ching!

[jody]

1. F-111 failure redux only 10 times more wasteful. DoD leaders act like they are brain-dead. nt

[BlueToTheBone]

2. Thanks for all your posts.

It's good to know how are tax dollars are being spent. Very poorly it seems.

[Scuba]

3. +1

[Scuba]

4. Funny, I don't feel safer. Now if we had Medicare for All I'd feel safer.

Thanks for keeping track of these boondoggles.

[leveymg]

5. It doesn't need no stinkin' weapons - it's invisible!

It'll just suddenly appear over the enemy, cause panic, and they'll all surrender, instantly. Quick, order another trillion dollars worth of the things!

[nenagh]

6. Thanks again for all your posts...