Obama has sold out American Air Defense

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This Week, Let's Help Burlington Kill the $1.5 Trillion F-35 Taxpayer Ripoff



If the seven Democrats and four Progressives voted yes to bar the F-35 from Burlington, while both Independents and the lone Republican voted no, the binding resolution would pass 11-3. Even if only a bare majority of Democrats voted yes, the resolution would still have eight votes out of 14.

So this fight about national priorities is a fight among Democrats. Since Democrats are supposed to favor Social Security, Medicare benefits, Head Start and food stamps over corporate welfare for Lockheed Martin, this should be a slam dunk. But it's not. Vermont's leading elected officials - Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders, and Peter Welch - support military Keynesianism in Vermont, even though military Keynesianism destroys American jobs.


People who have never seen the numbers often act surprised that military Keynesianism destroys American jobs. There's a powerful unquestioned dogma that unnecessary military spending creates jobs.




MoveOn Petitions - Burlington City Council: Vote No on Basing the F-35=

 

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And the Americans wonder how China came up with a plane similar, yet better than the F 35. China doesn't have to spy on them if they are stupid enough to give them the details.


But how much, at the end of the day will this outsourcing cost in retrofits to insure the metals used can't be tracked by radar?


Unbelievable............








Exclusive: U.S. waived laws to keep F-35 on track with China-made parts








The Pentagon repeatedly waived laws banning Chinese-built components on U.S. weapons in order to keep the $392 billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013, even as U.S. officials were voicing concern about China's espionage and military buildup.


According to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters, chief U.S. arms buyer Frank Kendall allowed two F-35 suppliers, Northrop Grumman Corp and Honeywell International Inc, to use Chinese magnets for the new warplane's radar system, landing gears and other hardware. Without the waivers, both companies could have faced sanctions for violating federal law and the F-35 program could have faced further delays.


"It was a pretty big deal and an unusual situation because there's a prohibition on doing defense work in China, even if it's inadvertent," said Frank Kenlon, who recently retired as a senior Pentagon procurement official. "I'd never seen this happen before."


In the documents, Kendall underscored the importance of the F-35 program to ensure continued U.S. military superiority and counter potential emerging threats from nations developing their own stealth fighter jets, including Russia and China.


Since 1973, U.S. laws have banned the procurement of specialty metals produced outside the United States for use on U.S. weapons. A separate 2006 law also bans the purchase of end-use items and components that include such specialty metals.
The documents reviewed by Reuters show that Northrop first discovered the use of non-compliant Japanese magnets on the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar it builds for the F-35 in August 2012, alerting the prime contractor, Lockheed, which then told the Pentagon.


A subsequent investigation of all parts on the F-35 turned up two more cases in which non-U.S. specialty metals were used on the F-35's radar, and on target assemblies built by Honeywell that are used for positioning doors and landing gear.
Northrop's radar was also found to contain $2 magnets made by Chengdu Magnetic Material Science & Technology Co, in China's Sichuan region, according to the documents.


The magnets used on the Honeywell target assemblies were acquired through Illinois-based Dexter Magnetic Technologies Inc.






Exclusive: U.S. waived laws to keep F-35 on track with China-made parts | Reuters

 

[BaalsTears]

Uncle Sam is going to get what he deserves. It's going to be an historic beat down.

 

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US hears conflicting accounts on Lockheed’s $400bn F-35 fighter










The controversy over the F-35, which was first conceived more than 20 years ago, reignited this week after the premature release online of a section on the F-35 of the annual report of the US defence department’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT & E).


The report lists scores of problems facing the programme, including the peeling-off of parts of the aircraft’s stealth coating after extended use of its engines’ afterburners, unpredictable airborne handling and troublesome software. Most eye-catchingly, the report says the fuel tanks could be vulnerable to explosion because of lightning strikes.




US hears conflicting accounts on Lockheed’s $400bn F-35 fighter - FT.com