The U.S. defense budget is inching ever closer to the $900 billion mark, and yet, the most powerful military in the world is having trouble locating one stealth fighter jet.
Maybe U.S. military technology is too good (except when trying to shoot down unidentified objects over the Great Lakes, apparently).
The military lost the F-35B Lightning II jet Sunday afternoon after the pilot was forced to eject from the advanced stealth aircraft over South Carolina. And now, Americans in the state – specifically north, around Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion where the jet was last known to be flying – are being asked to keep a lookout for a stealth jet fighter that might be lying around.
What Is the F-35 Jet Program?
As you might imagine, the F-35 program is stupidly expensive; in fact, it’s the most expensive weapons program ever conceived, coming in at a whopping $400 billion in development and acquisition (the jets are manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp., who I’m sure isn’t price-gouging the federal government). It’ll also cost an additional $1.2 trillion to operate and maintain the fleet – found all over the world – for the next 60 years.
Each individual jet can cost more than $160 million, which means if you find it, you’ve got yourself a pretty nice payday if you can flip the thing on eBay, or perhaps work out a deal with the military.
Issues With the F-35 Jet
The F-35 program in general has a spotty history to this point. The program in general is ten years behind schedule and 80% over budget (which ends up being only about $183 billion), mired in all sorts of defects and other issues since being announced in 2001 as the future of air warfare.
Even with its numerous production and performance issues, that hasn’t stopped nations from lining up to place orders for the F-35. Germany bought nearly 40 of them, Canada wanted 88, and countries like Greece, the Czech Republic, and Singapore have all been interested. Japan has F-35 jets as well, and they’ve lost one of their own before, when an F-35A plunged into the Pacific Ocean in 2019 during an exercise due to pilot disorientation.
This isn’t the first time an American F-35 has had an issue, either. In 2018, an F-35B crashed in Beaufort County, South Carolina because of a defect in a fuel tube. Still, Lockheed Martin and the military press on despite all of this, probably because it would be a massively bad look for our all-powerful military-industrial complex to waste so much money out in the open like this and ultimately deliver very little.
Is the F-35 Program Successful at All?
Despite the bad headlines and poor management of the program, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter – developed to actually save money over the long haul as an easily modified fighter – has actually delivered for the most part. About 960 of the jets have been delivered so far, with 630 going to the U.S. military. So sure, they’re going to lose a few of these babies and flush $160 million down the toilet. But when you add it all up, the program is progressing, even if it’s at a much slower and much, much more expensive pace than anyone originally anticipated.
In the meantime, if you happen to find that F-35 in your backyard, give the U.S. military a call, will you?
