Taxpayer Watchdog Says US F-35 Aircraft Program Unjustified, Unaffordable

The US Department of Defense’s 2016 budget request for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter represents nearly 30 percent of the Navy, Air Force and Army’s combined aircraft procurement costs, an amount that President of Taxpayers for Common Sense Ryan Alexander told Sputnik is costly and unjustified.

“Procurement costs for the F-35 continue to be unbelievably high and it’s hard to believe this is a plane we can justify or afford,” Alexander said Monday in an interview with Sputnik on the Defense Department’s budget.

The proposed $585 billion 2016 Defense Department budget released Monday includes $10.6 billion in funding for the procurement of 57 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marines, out of total aircraft procurement for the three services of nearly $37 billion.

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