F-35 video.

What an awesome piece of tech this bird is.
Cant wait for this thing thing to go operational.

F-35B Ship Suitability Testing - YouTube

Yay! 200 Million dollars ea. Thank heavens we don't have budget issues!!!

LOVE it!

Yay! 200 Million dollars ea. Thank heavens we don't have budget issues!!!

Amazing how there's always money for stuff like this eh?

Surprising we have it, with the dollars we throw at ridiculous giveaway programs such as benefits for...illegal aliens.....etc

Surprising we have it, with the dollars we throw at ridiculous giveaway programs such as benefits for...illegal aliens.....etc

ugh...

typical mind numbing response. How bout we get rid of "ridiculous giveaway programs" that waste much money, and over the top 100's of million dollar jets. If we did both, rather than use one to justify the other, maybe we could get our budget where we could make sensible judgements on all accounts.

ugh...

typical mind numbing response. How bout we get rid of "ridiculous giveaway programs" that waste much money, and over the top 100's of million dollar jets. If we did both, rather than use one to justify the other, maybe we could get our budget where we could make sensible judgements on all accounts.

What does one have to do with the other? Are you an advocate of overrunning this....overburdened country with endless reward programs for those that mass to our shores and borders.....illegally?
Perhaps your mind is .....still numb?
BTW, I could get behind some defense cuts as well...probably.

I think CRed's point was that both the endless reward programs and the 200 Million dollar jets should be cut.

Excessive defense spending and excessive entitlement programs are making it impossible to climb out of debt. Despite being deep in debt, we continue to spend like there is no tomorrow.

It's a sweet plane, no doubt ... but, really, where is the need? Keep the plans, run the prototype, keep testing to see if we can upgrade, and, if we get into a war where we need the next generation of fighter, then build (yes, yes ... I know there would be lag time). Right now, we have more than 3 times as many planes as the next largest air force (China) and more than twice as many aircraft as China & Russia (the 3rd largest air force) combined. Total Aircraft by Country (http://www.globalfirepower.com/aircraft-total.asp)

We already have the numbers and tech advantage by a large, large margin. Is now the time to be guilding the weaponry lily? Which makes you better prepared for a real, old style war? The hottest tech or the strongest economy? I would suggest the second.

I think CRed's point was that both the endless reward programs and the 200 Million dollar jets should be cut.

Excessive defense spending and excessive entitlement programs are making it impossible to climb out of debt. Despite being deep in debt, we continue to spend like there is no tomorrow.

It's a sweet plane, no doubt ... but, really, where is the need? Keep the plans, run the prototype, keep testing to see if we can upgrade, and, if we get into a war where we need the next generation of fighter, then build (yes, yes ... I know there would be lag time). Right now, we have more than 3 times as many planes as the next largest air force (China) and more than twice as many aircraft as China & Russia (the 3rd largest air force) combined. Total Aircraft by Country (http://www.globalfirepower.com/aircraft-total.asp)

We already have the numbers and tech advantage by a large, large margin. Is now the time to be guilding the weaponry lily? Which makes you better prepared for a real, old style war? The hottest tech or the strongest economy? I would suggest the second.

This.

I am not big on social spending either but, from JR's website:

Defense Spending
Data through 2011; shown in USD
US - $692,000,000,000
China - $100,000,000,000
UK - $73,746,170,000
Japan - $70,495,000,000
Russia - $56,000,000,000

So, if we accept that the UK and Japan would aid us in time of a war with either Russia or China, that puts our combined spending at nearly 6 times the combined spending of our two most likely enemies. But keep in mind that China/Russia have a large portion of their money tied up in protecting their shared border.

But...but...we have to have to be able to fight 6 un-winnable wars all at once.