F-35…What is the REAL Cost?

Many of the people who are trying to give the kiss of death to the F-35 project are continually citing cost as the basis for their argument. While President Obama is spending the money our future grand children like it is going out of style, his deficit commission has been pushing to drastically cut back production of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which is currently the world's only fifth generation multi-role fighter, while other superpowers such as China and Russia are coming up uncomfortably fast in the rear view mirror with their own latest and greatest in this air combat arena.

In this installment, we are going to examine what is the true cost of this technological combat marvel when all things are factored in. First of all, let’s examine the figures, and how they compare to other planes being built by other nations at this time. Initially, the projected cost of the F-35 was in the $60 million dollar range. Then the cost estimate numbers started to go up, possibly due to the fact that they were cutting back on the number of planes purchased. Now the numbers are reported by various agencies to be in the $100+ million dollar plus range. This is the same reported price range that Russia and China are projecting to develop versions of their own 5th gen fighters, so the cost is still comparable.

Now for a moment, let’s return to the scenario I outlined in my earlier installment of this commentary to try and get a perspective on the real cost. The scenario I am referring to is the one where we had a team of twelve Special Operations personnel pinned down by enemy fire with their retreat closed off and about to be over run, and it was critical to call in effective air support or the team would perish. As many of the readers know, Spec Operators are one of America’s greatest military assets, and the time it takes to train one of these Elite Warriors in the official training schools/programs is about three years. Other various elements of team training are not even taken into consideration in the three year estimate, and the projected total cost to train a Spec Operator is about one million dollars when all is considered. I assume that the number would be even higher for Tier 1 Operators such as Delta, DEVGRU, etc. In the little incident I detailed earlier, if you do the math you will find that you have twelve million dollars in human assets at risk on the ground, and that is before you even factor in the cost of their high tech equipment. Does anyone really want to be protecting our Elite Warriors using obsolete aircraft that would put our Warriors at risk to save a few dollars? Let me explain further to better clarify my position. When a Combat Controller starts calling in air support it is not just some sort of sloppy walk in the park. Fast moving planes scream in to drop their ordnance on the enemy locations, and then need to be able to turn on a dime to get back in the fight. After the first pass there is nothing but dust in the air and all visual contact with the team on the ground for the most part has been lost. At this juncture it becomes critical that the pilot has a highly maneuverable plane equipped with the best communication systems as well as electronic instrumentation and controls, because at this point, that is all the pilot has to rely on, and this is the difference between the team making it out alive because of a well delivered surgical strike on the enemies location, or the next of kin receiving a knock at their door to be regretfully notified that their son or brother has become a victim of friendly fire. Some of the readers might be thinking “Gun Shy, it seems that you have strong opinions on this and are a bit passionate on the topic”. My answer is “Hell yes I am”, because when I think about America’s finest digging themselves in to get below the blast wave and the shrapnel as they call in the strike, I want to know that the pilots are wielding a finely tuned scalpel which is capable of performing the most exacting surgical strike, and anyone who has done their homework knows that is what the F-35 is all about. To further clarify my position, while Congressman and Senators are sitting on their fat asses in Washington shining seats and voting themselves pay raises as they bask in the good life that is paid for by the blood of our warriors in the field, and people like Nancy Pelosi are enjoying their wonderful life at the expense of tax paying Americans, our President who is continually vacationing with his family and living the good life, and jetting about to global warming summits in between throwing rock concerts at the white house is looking to reduce our air assets based on cost that could mean the difference between life and death to those putting their lives on the line in the field daily. Yeah…I’m passionate about this, because our Warriors deserve the best with no costs spared, because America owes that to them...period.

In my next installment, we will look at the true cost of cutting the program in reference to American jobs that will be lost and its effect on our Nation’s economy