A MUST READ! Our enemies have had over 2 decades to prepare for the F-35...

Thanks to Charley for the heads up!

via National Review...

Well understood anti-stealth tactics, combined with networked passive sensors, will allow peer enemies flying faster, aerodynamically superior planes to get the first shot in at ranges 30 to 40 percent greater than that of the F-35’s missiles. The point is that potential future enemies, given decades to prepare, have done so. That we would expect anything different is just plain silly.

And this....

Brazen claims of future F-35 dominance are legion, but real evidence to support such claims is nonexistent. Nonetheless, the fact that such claims are being made by people with a lot of gold braid carries a lot of weight. That it is politically expedient to believe such claims helps explain the F-35 program’s continued existence. So where does that leave us? In business, there is the concept of a sunk cost. The idea is to disregard past investments, both financial and emotional, and make the decision on whether to continue with the project on the basis of what will yield the most value for the stakeholders going forward. Right now the F-35’s sunk cost is massive in terms of money, time, pride, reputations, and emotion. While it is likely that some of the technologies being incorporated into the F-35 are useful, incorporating these technologies into several superior platforms that optimally address the diverse requirements of the three jet-flying services has a much better net present value. Consequently it is time to pull the plug on the biggest threat to U.S military power — the F-35.

The F-35 is destroying the US military in general and the USMC in particular.

In a world ran by competent leadership, the Marines would have put the F-35 at the end of its procurement train and instead funded projects that work.  The ACV would have been done.  The CH-53K would be in production.

We would be waiting to see if the F-35 would work AND be affordable.

Instead leadership has gone all in on the F-35.

Reputations, both personal and institutional will be wrecked because of this hubris.

Worse?

We are placing our nation and those of our allies at risk on a whim, a prayer and a hope that Lockheed Martin can make this dead duck fly.