No wonder the U.S. is bankrupt

The cost of Pentagon’s F-35 program is up 45 percent from $1 trillion a year ago.

• Like domestic spending, government spending for the military is out of control.
• The American economy cannot support a monster welfare state and military machine that sucks down money faster than taxpayers can earn it.

The U.S. government now projects that the total cost to develop, buy and operate Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be $1.45 trillion over the next 50-plus years, according to a Pentagon document obtained by Reuters. 


Something must be done about the insane levels of spending.  See our article:  THE FEDERALIST - "It is time to re-organize our military."

The Pentagon’s latest, staggering estimate of the lifetime cost of the F-35 -- its most expensive weapons program -- is up from about $1 trillion a year ago, and includes inflation. While inflation accounts for more than one-third of the projected F-35 operating costs, military officials and industry executives were quick to point out that it is nearly impossible to predict inflation over the next half-century.

The new cost estimate reflects the Pentagon’s proposal to postpone orders for 179 planes for five years, a move that U.S. official say will save $15.1 billion through 2017, and should avert costly retrofits if further problems arise during testing of the new fighter, which is only about 20 percent complete. 

The Pentagon still plans to buy 2,443 of the new radar-evading, supersonic warplanes, plus 14 development aircraft, in the coming decades, although Air Force Secretary Michael Donley last week warned that further technical problems or cost increases could eat away at those numbers. The new estimate, based on calculations made by the Cost Assessment Program Evaluation (CAPE) office, includes operating and maintenance costs of $1.11 trillion, including inflation, and development and procurement costs of $332 billion. 

The Pentagon office has a lower estimate for lifetime costs, although it is still around $1 trillion, according to two sources familiar with the estimates. The new baseline forecasts the average cost of the F-35 fighter, including research and development and inflation, at $135 million per plane, plus an additional $26 million for the F135 engine built by Pratt & Whitney. 

In 2012 dollars, the average cost of each single-seat, single-engine plane, including R&D, would be $112.5 million, plus $22 million for the engine.
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(Hurriyet Daily News)

The economical World War II Jeep.
The U.S. used the Jeep to defeat the Empire of Japan and the Axis Powers.  But today the Jeep is not good enough for the military.  Instead we purchase massively expensive vehicles to transport soldiers.