How Lockheed Martin Scammed the DoD with the F-35B and F-35C

There is no mistaking it. The F-35 is is a very good airframe. But whomever Lockheed greased to sell it to 3 branches should be in jail. Clearly, with 3 separate missions the one-aircraft-fits-all concept was not going to be able to cut it. And I think Lockheed knew this going in. The aircraft itself is fine. But, it should have been specifically an Air Force plane. The USMC and Navy could have perhaps shared an airframe. But, then again, considering the USMC's need for VTOL capability again makes an solid argument for a separate airframe. To me the most suspicious thing about all this, is not being able to find any competitors to Lockheed's F-35 B & C concept. And knowing Lockheed is the biggest military contractor, the whole thing reeks of corruption.

When I worked for a SAIC contract on Stennis Space Center, I once had a guy brag to me he worked on a contract for 2 years where he was paid $80K a year to go into an office and play video games with 6 other people. They were supposed to be monitoring some kind of weather device they had outside. And their reports were to be collected weekly. Well, that took one person, collecting the data for a total workload of 15 minutes a week! All that to say this, the contractors in America scam the shit out of what they feel is a bottomless well of money. I looked at the guy sternly and told him if I ever catch him engaging in unethical activity on my watch, I would report him to the GAO. Well, I found out sometime later Lockheed Martin has me officially listed as "uninterviewable". Imagine that!

So, the F-35 works now. All the bugs are worked out of it and it's a massive improvement over the Navy/Marine Corps F-18 Super Hornet and Marine Corps' AV-8B Harrier. But, the question is "How much money could have been saved by allowing alternatives to have been considered to fill the roles of these legacy fighters?". This is the kind of thing MAGA supporters would like to see addressed in the future. We have already seen Trump question the price tag of the Air Force One class of aircraft based on Boeing 747 airframe. How much more money can a scrutinizing eye of a businessman save the US taxpayer?

Tony Castelluci is a filmmaker, writer, and raconteur. Having once served as a Water Safety Survival Instructor as a member of the elite special operations USMC unit 2nd ANGLICO, Tony still seeks adventure on air, land, and sea. Please subscribe, resteem if you can afford it, and share this post if you appreciate the content.

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