Danish Lawmakers Blast F-35 Plan: Faulty Jet Cost America Trillions

H/t reader squodgy:

“They call it the Lightening, but in reality, based on its inability to get off the ground yet guzzle like no other, I christen it the F-35 ALBATROSS.

The latest fact is that with the world in recession, even Government income is being stretched in every country already committed to this heap of premature junk. They really are finding it unjustifiable at that cost, but, if the US push that stupid Trans Atlantic Trade Agreement through, those countries will still be sued the full value & more if they cancel.

Good commercial stupidity.”

Related info:

– Pentagon Delays F-35 Tests As Software Glitch Shuts Down Jets Mid-Flight

– Danish Lawmakers Blast F-35 Plan: Faulty Jet Cost America Trillions:

Denmark faces pressure, ahead of July’s NATO summit, to announce the purchase of an expensive US fighter jet that fails mid-flight during due to a software glitch.

The Danish parliament poured cold water on plans for the Royal Danish Air Force to acquire American-made F-35A Lightning II jets as their next-generation fighter, citing the trillions of dollars spent by the US military on an aircraft that, in testing stages, fails mid-flight due to software glitches.

The parliament’s Committee of Defense strongly criticized the minority conservative-liberal government for initially selecting the F-35, questioning defense minister Peter Christensen and officials from the New Fighter Program Office (NFPO) on Wednesday.

The committee demanded that Christensen and NFPO officials explain the rationale behind choosing an aircraft with extraordinarily high capital costs compared to both flyaway-unit purchase price and lifecycle for each of the competitors to the F-35 in their fighter replacement program.

Despite heated opposition in the Danish parliament, the country’s defense ministry faces pressure from the US government, which has been aggressively lobbying other countries to acquire a jet that has already cost the American military in excess of $2 trillion and is unlikely to pass flight tests within the next few years. Defense industry analysts had expected that Denmark would commit to purchasing the F-35 ahead of the NATO summit meeting in Warsaw in July.

Danish opposition leaders argue that the F-35 will not be combat ready until 2024 at the earliest, leaving the country with a three-year gap starting in 2022, during which time their air defense will fall below military readiness assessments. They also allege that Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has inflated flight-hour projections and understated the costs of the beleaguered fighter jet.

The Danish acquisition plan calls for purchasing 27 F-35A jets at a total lifecycle cost of $8.2 billion, assuming that the aircraft will not suffer the same technical glitches that continue to suck a massive portion in the US military’s budget.

“Costs can rise and fall. There are always some risks, but we will negotiate the best terms we can and we will do our utmost to clarify details as much as we can before we make the first purchase. We will look to secure better certainty on costs,” said Christensen before parliament on Wednesday.

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