No one needs another F-35 fighter jet

 

For defense corporations, the Pentagon budget is a lot like Santa’s sack of presents. And just like spoiled children, they seem to get everything they want:

F-35 fighter jets (that don’t work)? — ✅ Trillions for the nuclear arsenal? — ✅ “Security assistance” for foreign militaries, regardless of their human rights records? — ✅

The amount of money we’re talking about is simply staggering: up to $7 TRILLION has gone directly from taxpayers into weapons makers’ corporate bank accounts over the past two decades. What would healthcare and education look like with that level of investment?

The end of the year is a time for reflection and resolutions so here’s ours: 2022 will be THE year we turn the tide on this fundamental flaw at the heart of our country’s priorities.

But influencing Congress is more challenging than ever, and every day we’re up against lobbyists and special interests with deep pockets and unethical relationships. Win Without War is one of just a handful of organizations willing to take on this corruption — and we need your help if we want a chance at tearing up their weapons wishlists.

We’re setting the stage to fundamentally shift our country’s misguided priorities, and we rely on grassroots donations from everyday people like you to power our work. A donation of any amount will fuel our fight to upend the status quo and cut the cozy, corrupt ties that keep the profits flowing.

We’ve been building toward this moment with allies in Congress and everyday people across the country for years. Now, we’re on the verge of something incredible — and 2022 could be our chance.

Because people just like you are tired of being told our communities’ priorities are ‘unrealistic’ and ‘too expensive’ while we spend BILLIONS on weapons and war every year. 

You know what’s unrealistic? Thinking you can bomb your way to peace.

Now, we’re seeing a growing number of bold progressive lawmakers agree. And with their help, we’ve been able to build enough power to successfully BLOCK the Pentagon’s attempts to sneak war funding into our COVID recovery and infrastructure spending

It’s proof our work is paying off — and it’s why we’re gearing up to go even harder. 

But winning won’t be easy. Because with their biggest argument for irrational spending — the war in Afghanistan — now gone, you can bet your bottom dollar weapons contractors will come out swinging to find new wars and new weapons to fight them with.

You and I know that it’s time that we tear up weapons CEO and lobbyists’ wishlists. And to make sure we succeed in this much-needed generational change, we need all the wind at our backs that we can muster. So I need to ask.

 We rely on grassroots donations from everyday people like you to power our work.

Thank you for working for peace,

Sara, Stephen, Kate, and the Win Without War team

© Win Without War 2020
1 Thomas Circle NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005
(202) 656-4999 | info@winwithoutwar.org 

The F-35 fighter jet is a hunk of junk

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