Free Press asks questions of Vermont delegation on F-35

The Burlington Free Press on Monday sent a series of questions about the F-35 warplane to Vermont’s congressional delegation, Gov. Peter Shumlin and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger.

They have been strong supporters of basing the F-35 in Burlington, and the congressional delegation and Shumlin issued a joint statement Friday reaffirming their support for the plane and saying it would be good both for the Vermont Air National Guard and for Vermont’s economy.

Last week, Pierre Sprey, a co-designer of the F-16 and A-10 warplanes told some 400 people at an F-35 meeting in Burlington that the F-35 is a “shockingly” bad aircraft which will perform poorly on all of its designated missions: air-to-air combat, bombing and close support of ground troops.

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