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Analysis

Congress Greases Flightpath for the F-35 Boondoggle

Politicians bedazzled by fighter plane that can’t fight.
By

An F-35C Lightning II arrives April 15, 2016, at Hill Force Base, Utah. (U.S. Air Force photo/R. Nial Bradshaw)

Despite warnings of poor performance and spiraling costs from at least three oversight agencies, both of the Congressional armed services committees voted to add new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to the President’s appropriations request and approved a three-year block buy.

The final number has yet to be hashed out, but if the Senate gets its way, taxpayers will buy 94 F-35s in 2018. That would mean more than 800 F-35s would be purchased before the design has been fully tested.

You can read the full article at The American Conservative.

Dan Grazier

Dan Grazier is a senior defense policy fellow for the Center for Defense Information at POGO.

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