The F-35 continues to destroy current/future budgets...

Thanks to Don for the link!

via Washington Post.

For example, auditors reported that the Defense Department’s massive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program Fighter “continues to encounter significant technical problems,” Dodaro testified, including engine and bulkhead failures, which require design changes at the same time aircraft production is well underway. DOD plans to steeply increase F-35 funding over the next five years and projects that it will need between $14 billion and $15 billion annually for nearly a decade.
GAO recommended that defense officials conduct a “comprehensive affordability analysis” of the F-35 program’s procurement plan, Dodaro said. DOD agreed with the recommendation, although the agency maintains that it accomplishes this through its annual budget process. Auditors say a more thorough analysis is necessary “to accurately account for the future technical and funding uncertainty” the program faces, he said.

I know what the Assistant Commandant for Aviation is saying.....

Tell everyone its perfect.  We'll fix it once we get it. 

The reality is stark.  This one airplane is destroying the Marine Corps.  How Dunford could allow this insanity to continue is beyond me.  Why Neller (and I've been told by more than one person that  I consider knowledgeable that he's beyond solid) isn't clamping down hard is a mystery.

This will not end well.

The fanboys can delude themselves all they want.  But the truth is the truth. We will lose air superiority with this airplane....and we'll pay an arm and leg while we're doing so.