F-35: The Most Expensive Weapons Program in History

The F-35 program serves as the ideal case study to understand the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex. The program encapsulates all the problems with the business of purchasing weapons in the United States. The F-35 has a needlessly complicated design that makes it expensive and difficult to operate and maintain. While this design makes it less effective in combat, it does facilitate subcontracts all over the country for no purpose other than shoring up political support. The sheer size of the program provides many opportunities for officials involved in the program to travel through the revolving door between government and industry.