From the article:
“The system is totally broken and everybody knows it”
– Sherman Mullin, retired former Lockheed F-22 program chief
The F-35 is also a total disaster:
- Test Pilots: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Blind Spot Will Get It ‘Gunned Every Time’
- Pentagon Grounds F-35 Fighter Jet Fleet After Engine Crack Found
- F-35 (Ironically Known As ‘Lightning II’) Fatal Flaw: Lightning!
- Trillion-Dollar F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Jet Has Thirteen Expensive New Flaws
Delays, technical glitches and huge cost overruns in the Air Force’s F-22 fighter jet program highlight the Pentagon’s broken procurement process.

A Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor in flight during flight tests. (Lockheed Martin)
- F-22 program produces few planes, soaring costs (LA Times, June 16, 2013):
When the U.S. sought to assure Asian allies that it would defend them against potential aggression by North Korea this spring, the Pentagon deployed its top-of-the-line jet fighter, the F-22 Raptor.
But only two of the jets were sent screaming through the skies south of Seoul.
That token show of American force was a stark reminder that the U.S. may have few F-22s to spare. Alarmed by soaring costs, the Defense Department shut down production last year after spending $67.3 billion on just 188 planes — leaving the Air Force to rely mainly on its fleet of 30-year-old conventional fighters.
“People around the world aren’t dumb,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita). “They see what we have. They recognize that our forces have been severely depleted.”
Tags: Air Force, F-22, Global News, Government, Lockheed Martin, Military, Pentagon, Politics, U.S.



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