# F-35 The most expensive weapons program in human history — [[Lockheed Martin]]'s stealth fighter, born of the 1990s Joint Strike Fighter competition (the X-35 beat Boeing's X-32 in 2001), built in Fort Worth in three variants (A: Air Force; B: Marine STOVL; C: carrier), and flown by a coalition spanning the original partners (UK, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway — Turkey expelled 2019) plus FMS customers from Israel to Japan. The global fleet passed ~1,300 jets in early 2026 after a record 191 deliveries in 2025. ## The cost machine GAO puts total lifecycle cost above **$2 trillion** — including ~$1.58T in sustainment over a service life now stretched to 2088. Unit flyaway prices (~$82M for an A-model airframe, ~$101M fully equipped) are the affordable-sounding part; the readiness numbers are the scandal: fleet mission-capable rates fell from 67% (FY2021) to **44% (FY2025)**, with full-mission-capable at 25%, prompting a ~$13.7B Pentagon readiness rescue plan. The TR-3/Block 4 modernization is the current sinkhole — jets piled up undelivered in 2023–24 awaiting software, Pentagon testers found no combat-capable TR-3 aircraft delivered through FY2025, and Block 4 has been rescoped to finish ~2031, at least $6B over. The program's political armor is industrial: a supply chain deliberately spread across 45+ states makes it the canonical "too big to kill" procurement — the [[Military-Industrial Complex]] operating as designed. ## Trump-era turbulence [[Elon Musk]] opened the era calling manned fighters obsolete in the drone age (December 2024). The FY2026 budget cut the buy from 74 to **47 jets** (24 A / 11 B / 12 C), shifting money to spares and to [[Boeing]]'s F-47 — the sixth-generation NGAD award Lockheed lost in March 2025. Trump separately mused about a twin-engine "F-55" (May 2025), which former Air Force officials called infeasible. Lockheed's counter is the "fifth-generation-plus" pitch: inject NGAD-derived tech into the F-35 — "take the chassis and turn it into a Ferrari" — claiming ~80% of F-47 capability at half the price. ## Alliance politics: the kill-switch era The F-35's deepest 2025–26 story is what it revealed about alliance dependence. When tariffs and annexation talk spooked allies, a "kill switch" panic swept Europe and Canada (March 2025); the program office denied any remote-disable capability, but analysts noted the truth underneath — US control of mission data files, spares, and software gives Washington de facto leverage over every allied fleet. [[Mark Carney]]'s Canada ordered a review of its 88-jet order and by mid-2026 was reportedly considering keeping only ~30 while buying Swedish Gripens; Switzerland cut its order after a price hike and 39% tariffs; Portugal wavered publicly. Meanwhile Trump announced F-35 sales to [[Mohammed bin Salman]]'s Saudi Arabia (November 2025, up to 48 jets, not yet consummated) over Israeli qualitative-military-edge objections — even as Israel's F-35I "Adir" delivered the type's signature combat record in the June 2025 strikes on Iran (see [[Trump-Iran MOU 2026]] for the aftermath). ## See Also - [[Lockheed Martin]] · [[Boeing]] — the F-47 rival · [[Defense Primes Sector]] - [[Military-Industrial Complex]] · [[Golden Dome]] · [[Pete Hegseth]] - [[Elon Musk]] · [[Mark Carney]] · [[Trump-Iran MOU 2026]]