Friend: Meet the F-35 Lightning II: our newest, trillion-dollar-price-tag, fighter jet that STILL can't fly in combat.
After 20 years and BILLIONS of dollars it still has NINE deficiencies so serious they could "cause death, severe injury, or severe occupational illness" to the pilots flying them.
Even the military doesn’t want them: the Navy cut its order, the Marine Corps is expected to as well, and it's being reported the Air Force might follow suit — and yet every year, taxpayers are stuck with gobsmacking billion-dollar-bills. Why? Because Congress continues to lob more and more money at defense contractors by buying F-35s the military hasn't even asked for.
ENOUGH. From Los Angeles, CA, to Burlington, VT, too many of us are struggling to recover and rebuild from the worst of the pandemic. Classrooms have no heat or AC, families go hungry to pay for prescription medicines, and a massive climate crisis is coming straight for all of us because lawmakers say the solutions are too expensive. But one solution that can save us BILLIONS is obvious:
Add your name: Tell Congress to cancel the F-35 Failed Fighter Jet
Who wants these ridiculous failed fighter jets? Defense mega-contractors who spend tens of millions of dollars lobbying Congress every year and who tailor-made the F-35 for maximum political impact by claiming they were spreading production across 46 states.
Here's the backstory: In 2001 when the contract to build this so-called futuristic fighter jet was awarded, the U.S. public was promised a fleet of cutting edge fighter jets for a total cost, from development to production, of $200 billion.
Cut to today, when all the operating costs for the planned fleet are calculated across the program's expected 50-year lifetime, we're on the hook for an estimated $1.727 TRILLION!
At the end of the Trump administration, the Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller called the F-35 a "piece of s**t." The Air Force chief admitted the F-35 would never be able to live up to its original purpose. And Adam Smith, the Chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said we should stop throwing money down the F-35 "rathole."
WE AGREE, and since Congress controls the purse strings, we've got to let them know:
Congress: Cancel the F-35 Failed Fighter Jet!
Thank you for working for peace,
Stephen and the Win Without War team
