F-35 critics are the loyal opposition! Get that straight!

Hey all.  I see a new meme developing among the F-35 fanbase that needs to be curb stomped ricky ticky quick.  What the fuck am I talking about?  Well check this article out from Foxtrot Alpha...

Another bad sign? For the second year in a row, Lockheed Martin is expected to deliver fewer F-35s than it had planned. The company had planned to produce 66 jets this year but acknowledged in its third quarter earnings this week that it seems very unlikely to reach that number. Only 44 of the fighters have made it off the production lines through the end of September.

While the F-35 is currently assembled in Texas, Italy and Japan, major components for the aircraft are made in places scattered across the world, including Turkey and Australia. Still, over 3,000 F-35s are expected to be built, with 2,456 planned for purchase by the Pentagon. Lockheed and the Air Force will do everything they can to support the deployment, with the jets getting as much flying time as the pilots can handle.

No matter what happens, of course, there will be many interested parties watching the deployment, including America’s allies and enemies. Both will be hoping for different outcomes.

Story here.

As usual Tyler wrote a very balanced article that pointed out the good and the bad with the F-35.  But that ending left me cold and I've been seeing that talking point pop up more and more on F-16.net and other F-35 fan sites.

The basic claim is that critics of the F-35 want the same thing that America's enemies want.  That is to see the F-35 fail.

That's wrong!

I am speaking for myself but also believe that I speak for many of the other critics out there.  We don't want to see the plane fail.  We would love for the F-35 to deliver on what's being promised.  WE WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

But the problem is that it isn't and it won't.

We are simply the canaries in the coal mine that's warning of the obvious danger of continuing to place all our eggs in the F-35 basket.  Speaking again for the critics, we've seen enough to make a determination about this program.  We've seen enough evidence to prove beyond a doubt that this plane will be harmful to the defense structures of the West.

In short we aren't giving aid to the enemy, we're giving a warning to our brothers and sisters.  That's why the ending paragraph of Tyler's article is so problematic.

No matter what happens, of course, there will be many interested parties watching the deployment, including America’s allies and enemies. Both will be hoping for different outcomes.

I am an interested party.

I am hoping for a different outcome than the enemies of America...and at the same time I want the USMC to change direction on the F-35.

Loyalty without question is servitude.  Reasoned opposition is patriotic.

Never get that confused!