APA have been some busy boys...

Boy, some of the political hacks in the DoD are some sure fire idiots.  While the silly bastard in Washington is making headlines for slamming the F-35 acquisition plan, others are rapidly taking his words and using them to help bolster their arguments.

Check this out from the Australian...

The complaints by Air Power Australia, longtime critics of the $16 billion JSF acquisition, were made last night before a public hearing of parliament's defence sub-committee.
Latest-generation Russian fighters such as the Sukhoi T-50 would easily defeat the F-35 in air-to-air combat, Air Power's Peter Goon said, referring to recent modelling tests by his organisation.
"The aircraft we are planning to buy is carrying over 2000 pounds (900kg) of dead weight," Mr Goon said, referring to the JSF's big jet engines.
New Russian and Chinese air defence radars would also have little trouble detecting the JSF, a craft touted for its stealth qualities, he added.

The RAAF says it wants 100 US-designed JSFs to replace the decommisioned F-111 strike aircraft, with the first squadron supposed to be operating by 2018.But the program has been mired in cost overruns and delays.
Last month US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the purchase of US JSFs to be delayed to allow Lockheed-Martin time to resolve production and technical shortcomings.
The company is contracted to deliver the first two training aircraft in 2014 with another 12 scheduled for 2015-17.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith has said he is now considering an option to order additional F/A-18F Super Hornets to fill any capability gap created by further JSF production delays.

Now I know some will say...ah its just APA chill out.

That wouldn't quite be wise in my opinion.  The critics of this program have a way of 'finding' each other.  And while they all have different motives for canceling the program, they're united in the desire to CANCEL the program.

Meanwhile, supporters have allies that have a habit of sticking their feet --- yeah feet as in both of them --- inside their oversized mouths.  Lockheed Martin was late to the table when it came to realizing that this is a public relations war as well as a fighter program.

Time for the DoD to wake up to that fact too.