F-35s viewed as a ‘white elephant’ on international scene

One value of the internet is that it opens windows. It permits an armchair critic to discover what experts and ordinary folk in other countries are saying about issues that also loom large in Canada.

Take, for example, the current darling of the Harper government, the F-35 stealth fighter aircraft, 65 copies of which the Conservatives are determined to buy to replace the country’s aging CF-18s — at a cost of $16 billion (official estimate) or $21 billion (more recent unofficial estimate) or even more.

The F-35, is being built by Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp., in what the Americans call the JSF (for Joint Strike Fighter) Program. The idea is that the U.S. and its most trustworthy allies will band together to acquire the same wildly expensive piece of military hardware. The Americans hope to sell 2,443 copies of the F-35 in a program with a world-record price tag of $382 billion.

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