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Joint Strike Fighter: Vanity Fair piles on

Joint Strike Fighter: Vanity Fair piles on

Much better than Four Corners' effort from January, because it presents the case for the JSF as well as against. Still it's a damning portrait of a flawed aircraft that is protected from serious scrutiny:

The political process that keeps the Joint Strike Fighter airborne has never stalled. The program was designed to spread money so far and so wide—at last count, among some 1,400 separate subcontractors, strategically dispersed among key congressional districts—that no matter how many cost overruns, blown deadlines, or serious design flaws, it would be immune to termination. It was, as bureaucrats say, “politically engineered.”

The Dutch recently reduced their JSF order from an expected 85 to 37. The new Australian government repeatedly stated its commitment to the jet while in opposition, though it hasn't said how many Australia will buy.

Photo by Flickr user Official US Air Force.




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