Well, I was going to write about Berkley burning due to protestors…again, but I went browsing around the Internet at the 11th hour little more than 12 hours. Lo and behold, I stumbled upon a small but financially significant article that should be a great joy to the American taxpayers. So what news did I stumble upon, you may ask? Well it only has to do with the longest and most expensive weapons research project known to man. Still haven’t guessed it? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s the Lockheed Martin F-35. That’s right folks, America’s newest multirole multi-service fighter jet that is years overdue and way over budget (by several hundred billion) just got the price tag for the first 90 units (that means actual planes for you non-whatevers) for the lowest price in the entire program’s history.
So what’s the total amount of money saved on these first 90 birds? Well, according to officials, it’s about $728 million on the whole. Which, after looking up last year’s numbers for the price per bird, (which varies according to which of the three variants you’re buying) comes to about $98.6 million per bird. This, of course, is a savings that’s anywhere between $4-$33.6 million per bird (I’m being really simple on the math folks don’t go after me). Anyhow, this astonishing price reduction came after only a few weeks of negotiating between Lockheed Martin, Congress and a new player in the negotiating for this reduction. No, it’s not Chief of Staff of the Air Force General David L. Goldfein or Secretary of Defense (Offense oh blessed Mattis) James Mattis. No, this deal was hammered home by the man himself, President Donald Trump.
So you may ask what exactly is the F-35? Well, if you’re wondering, it’s a multirole 5th generation fighter designed to replace several combat aircraft in the US inventory up but to not including the A-10, F-16, F/A-18, E/A-18 and the AV-8B, basically several older attack and multirole aircraft used by the different service branches. Along with that the bird is a stealth aircraft (radar only and more than likely infrared). Other than all that, the plane comes with several features such as an HMD (Helmet Mounted Display), an AESA radar (super advanced like can fry certain radar systems), and on the B model, the ability to take off and land vertically. Obviously all of this cutting edge stuff comes with a huge price tag, and the development of it has more than obviously ran over because of one problem or another due to the way its R&D was handled.
Funny thing about this deal is that the President’s involvement in the negotiating the price drop is what actually sped the process. I’m not making this up, that was an actual statement from Lockheed Martin themselves regarding the whole thing. Like I said earlier, that’s $728 million of tax payer dollars that can go to other things. Guess that’s something that naysayers of the man can shut the hell up about him.
