McCain calls DEATH SPIRAL for F-35!!!!!

Thanks to Don for the link!

via Defense News.

In a brief comment to reporters, McCain seemed to signal that the total projected buy for the Pentagon's most costly and ambitious program — 2,443 in total, spread across three models for the Air Force, Marines and Navy — is out of whack with budget realities. He said that cost growth in the program will mean fewer jets overall.
"We're going to have to reduce the buy," he said. "The number they are now quoting — there's just not going to be that many."
McCain, a longtime critic of the F-35, is known for hitting the program for a series of cost overruns and delays. But calling for a formal reduction in the Pentagon's buy of the jets has been a touchy subject in the Defense Department.
For years, the Pentagon and backers in Congress have fiercely guarded the 2,443 figure for the F-35, quickly shooting down talk that the number could be reduced.
That seemed to change earlier this year, when Gen. Joseph Dunford, now the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in testimony that the Pentagon is "presently taking the newest strategic foundation and analyzing whether 2,443 aircraft is the correct number."
That was followed by similar written comments from Adm. John Richardson, who, during his hearing to be named Chief Naval Officer, wrote that he would work to "re-validate the appropriate number of aircraft the Navy requires."

This is the CLASSIC DEATH SPIRAL!

The funny thing?  Its been plain to see to anyone with eyes to see.