The other part of the F-35's enormous cost....new facilities...

via Marine Times

Costs to upgrade Marine Corps bases to house new aircraft and amphibious vehicles and to support modernization efforts are proving exceedingly expensive, with costs in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Senate’s version of the annual defense legislation approved $199,630,000 in funding for construction projects at Camp Pendleton, California, $133,860,000 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, and $326,845,000 for projects on Guam.

The soaring figures are partially the result of the Corps’ efforts to modernize its force and ongoing construction projects to house nearly 5,000 Marines on Guam.

“We have quite a bit of hangar and utilities work to support the first F-35 squadrons assigned to MCAS Cherry Point,” said Marine spokesman Rex Runyon.

At Camp Pendleton, the Corps is building a new maintenance facility to support Assault Amphibious Vehicles, or AAVs, and the Corps’ latest Amphibious Combat Vehicle, or ACV.

Story here. 

This article is VERY CLEVERLY written.  Additionally I like how the Marine Corps is camouflaging the cost of F-35 hangar facilities by hiding it in the total cost of facilities upgrades at each base.

I can't recall the article but the costs of hangar facilities to house the F-35 has been covered but for some reason never gained traction.

To put it mildly the costs are just south of outrageous.

Additionally no one was ever able to explain to me how the F-35 would operate from austere bases overseas yet need such lavish facilities in every country it was to be operated from.

Want an example of the crazy price of hangar construction for the F-35?  Check out this little ditty from GovTribe...

 The North American Industry Classification Code (NAICS) for this procurement is 236220, Commercial and Institutional Building Construction, $36,500,000.00 average annual gross revenue for the last three (3) fiscal years. Estimated cost range for this project is between $10,000,000.00 and $25,000,000.00.

Story here. 

This part of the story has been lost in the weeds.  No one payed attention to the cost of facilities to maintain the F-35 and everyone bought in to the idea of it being expeditionary, therefore needing little "special care".

This is why the F-35 is gobbling the Pentagon and allowing our enemies to catch up.