$17 Trillion? Are They Kidding?

F-35 - The Reality

First of all, let's look at what $17 trillion means. $17,000,000,000,000. Yup, that's a lot of zeros. Put another way that is one dollar for every person in the states of New York and Connecticut (19.75 million and 3.6 million) 826,000 times over, or $48,571 dollars for every person in the USA, man, woman, child, retiree, every single one of us.

What's the $17 trillion for? The F-35 program spread over ten years. You see, what had been a game of smoke and mirrors has suddenly emerged as a boondoggle of the finest order. Yes, the planes can supercruise (run supersonic without afterburners, saving fuel). Yes the planes are more capable in a fight (meaning they should win more often and need less replacements in time of war). But the details of the planes' failures in design (still not resolved, needing costly upgrades), changes in warfare planning (costly revamping of deployment and strategic supplies), pilot training increases, bases, maintenance re-planning... the list seems almost endless.

Let's look at one example. The USS America (LHA-6) is the first of the America-class amphibious assault ships for the U.S. Navy. It was built in 2012 for more than a billion dollars and from the day her keel was laid down, she was built for the F35s – either the Marine's F-35B jump-jet or the Navy's F-35C with tail hook. Now, imagine everyone's surprise (not) when the USS America was returned to dock for a complete refit, ripping out its flight deck and spaces directly underneath to undergo a costly modification to support the F-35s – in effect an admission of failure of Navy planning since, in the original specifications presented to Congress, the LHA-6 was "built with the F-35 as its backbone of operations." Cost to refurbish? Many, many millions.

Okay, each F-35 is costly enough, with the Navy version costing $337 million each and the Marine version costing $251 million. Meanwhile the Air Force is sticking to its $100 million price tag because it does not include amortization of the program nor the upgrades they too are already having to install to try and keep the pilots alive. And what is worse is that these figures – and that overall cost of implementing the F-35 program – are just the beginning since the Air Force has already said it wants to double its purchase commitment (meaning they want more planes, no matter what the cost).

And there is another way to look at this spend of $17 trillion. If the Pentagon and Congress are openly talking about the overall spend, and if the branches of the military are already calling for more planes (one argument being that it would bring the unit cost down – but not the overall spend of course), all that "openness" of the discussions only highlights the smoke and mirrors of what is really going on. What, you thought this openness is really "all the facts?" Ten years ago the F-35 program was supposed to cost, over ten years, as stated in Congressional hearings less than $1.7 trillion. It is now 10 times as much. So when you hear Congressional testimony that their projected cap is now $17 trillion, what do you suppose the real number is?

My message to Congress and the Pentagon? "Fellows, I am all for strong defense but, sorry, I personally do not have north of $48,000 for each and every member of my family to support your "super" (but faulty) weapon system."