F-35 News. Election watch CANADA!!!!

Almost forgot about this till Peter_Goon reminded me!  Guess what the Pentagon, JSF Program office and HQMC/USAF HQ will be doing today?

If you said working hard to make the F-35 the fighter that they all claimed you'd be wrong.

They're going to be watching the elections in CANADA!

You are watching the future of the F-35 program wrapped up in the politics of a nation.  If the conservatives win then the program will be bolstered.  If it loses then its thrown into chaos.

The funny thing?  The business plan for the F-35 revolved around giving enough production offsets to make it too good to pass up.  The recession, rising costs and being horribly late have messed that up.  Now this multi-national project could be held hostage by the whims of voters in one nation.

Absolutely fucking amazing.

Oh and if you think the pain train is just coming from "little" blogs then check this out from Real Clear Defense (a major source of news for policy makers)...

But expectations for the F-35 to maintain Israel’s regional air dominance may be misplaced. The aircraft lacks the performance to go toe-to-toe with other new fighters fielded by neighboring states.

That my friends is a clear declaration of this airplanes performance.  "It lacks the performance to go toe-to-toe with other new fighters fielded by neighboring states."

That clear, simple statement should send chills down the spine of any Marine.  We've given up combat power on hopes and promises.  As a tribe we know better, so the question becomes...why didn't we do better?