Via one of the Pentagon’s official Twitter feeds, this week marks a “milestone” in the development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with its first international delivery.
Officially announced via a joint briefing by Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta and his British counterpart Philip Hammond, the
short takeoff F-35C variant is ready to be delivered to the first country to join in the development partnership with the U.S.
The British government had at one point sought to purchase
the F-35B carrier variant JSFs, though the plan was scrapped once the
cash-strapped nation saw the costs of outfitting its Queen Elizabeth
class carriers balloon upwards.
The F-35 program, envisioned as a cheaper single engined
alternative to the too-hot-for-export F-22, has been marked by cost
overruns (though, really, what Pentagon program hasn't been), which have
caused headaches for would-be foreign buyers that seek to justify not
only per unit purchase price, but also the operational costs of
maintaining the aircraft.
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