Even if you’ve never heard of the sunk cost fallacy, you’ve definitely been guilty of it at one time or another. We all have. It’s what happens when you spend money or effort on something that doesn’t pay off. However, instead of cutting your losses, you double down and keep flushing your money down the drain because you’re emotionally attached to the project or investment. It’s clearly a waste of money, but because you’ve already spent so much, it feels like it would be a waste to just stop and let it go.
If you’ve ever bought a run down used car, and spent far more in repairs than the original cost of the vehicle, then you know what I’m talking about. We’re all guilty of this, but the sunk cost fallacy becomes especially problematic and wasteful when governments are guilty of it. Then the waste is no longer measured in thousands of dollars.
Though our government has produced plenty of examples of the sunk cost fallacy (the drug war, war on terror, war on poverty, etc), perhaps the most perfect example is the F-35 project. This is a fighter jet that has cost over a trillion dollars to develop since 2001. It was significantly delayed and was completed well over budget. And yet, the aircraft has been mired in technical problems every step of the way.
For instance, software bugs have prevented the F-35 from taking off during test flights. A glitch has caused the the radar to turn off randomly, forcing pilots to turn it off and on again. There’s also a problem with the ejection seat, which could kill lightweight pilots when it’s used. Plus there are problems with the fuel tank, lightning protection, the helmet display, and the flight control system, among others.
But because we’ve already sunk so much money into the F-35, nobody has the guts to say enough is enough.
And if you can believe it, there are still new problems emerging with this aircraft, the latest of which involves the aircraft’s laser targeting system.
‘Despite being among the most technologically advanced low-observable warplanes on the planet, the Lockheed Martin F-35 has one significant shortcoming,’ it wrote.
‘The Joint Strike Fighter cannot strike moving ground targets using the targeting system and weapons loadout delivered in its final combat Lightning II configuration, Block 3F.’
The jet has gone through dozens of updates to its software, with the Block 3F being the most recent.
The issue means the aircraft is limited to striking fixed or slow-moving objects such as surface-to-air missiles.
Every time there is a problem with this aircraft, it presents our government with an opportunity to cut its losses and scrap the whole project. But when you’ve spent enough money to bribe god, giving up feels like such a waste. Even if it’s the smart thing to do.
You might want to rethink or edit this article. A surface to air missile is not a slow moving target.
I live pretty close to the bomber plant and know a few of the guys that are working on the F35. Articles like these do them a great dis-service. What you should be asking is ‘What is being developed at LM with all the extra funding provided by the F35 project’. You might be surprised.
Oh Yeah Texas Harley would love to keep this Plunder and Deceit all brushed under the carpet to keep the American Tax Payers in the dark. You know what a “Great Disservice” is Texas Harley?? The Perpetual Rape of the US Tax payers by the MIC Mafia, who way over charges for their inferior products that don’t work. Like the $400 Hammers and the $800 Toilet Seats in the 1980’s. Oh yeah we are well aware of the “Great Dis-service” you Cockroaches have given our country since President Eisenhower warned us all about you in famous Farewell Speech in Jan 1961.
I know how to fix this Texas Harley. Double and triple Tax every employee and Company of the MICM who give’s America such “Great Dis-service” until the entire US National Debt is paid off in Full. How about that Texas Harley? Got any more snide comments like (Shhhh… dont tell anybody of our ripoffs) Even Idiots are bigger in Texas!!
Btw/ My nephew works at LM in Tx. A mile long assembly line of more Plunder and Deceit. A smart kid, but he sold his soul to the devil as he is now hooked on their MICM Kool-aid. He lost all my respect. I wont tell him this, since he is family. If you want to be a sellout to the beast, go ahead. Karmas a bitch like when your plants and cities are Nuked first in any WAR. Enjoy your fried eggs suckers.
Golly ZEUS, you sound kinda bitter. Is it that LM would not hire you?
Okay then, I’m asking you, what else is being developed there. I’m a fully qualified aero engineer (albeit I don’t work as one), so I’d love to know what it is.
Have any of you heard of dis information? You never allow good information to leak to possible adversaries! Rule one of espionage.
Jay I will assume you are what you claim which means you are just as capable as I at finding ‘stuff’. Consequently I will point you to the LM web site with the comment ‘fusion research and development is not cheap’.
well it works on a VERY limited scale. NOT reliable and MOST pilots would NOT fly into combat! so your correct that most workers would not know the REAL problems of this aircraft. someday it will work, but at what cost??? as of now it is pretty much worthless in a fight! yea I now some pilots as well!! LOL, they cannot get the mind control to be consistent with pilot thought!! it is suppose to be a mind controlled plane from a smart helmet! it IS and HAS been a MONEY pit!! and we could have spent the money better!! they were NOT ready with this technology to have this much spent on it, they JUMPED the gun and WE are paying the extreme price for it and it still si not fight ready!
Why would ‘extra’ funding be diverted from the JSF? They are having enough trouble with that program. I have read a couple articles that suggest they are developing a new engine for it. What next? I know a new airframe to go with the new engine.
I have an idea. How about a dozen or so guys with box cutters hijack a Russian plane.
I can get a case of box cutters on clearance.
__
Oh the Grabbermemt has no problem doing this, (throwing good money at bad money) as they just go get another loan from the “Next Generation of American Tax Payers Bank of Last Resort.”
And if you fail to give them a loan (fail to pay your annual Fed tax installment to the IRS-(aka:Irresponsible Ridiculous Slimeballs) they will seize the last of your assets with the point of a gun.
So give yourselves a fighting chance and stock pile your own guns and ammo and shoot back when they come for your stuff.
Oh Trump has Great Big Plans to bankrupt us all with the largest Military expansion in modern history. Every pPresident says they are rebuilding the military. Its been rebuilt 5 times since Reagan. Aka: Father of the National Debt and inventer of paying off terrorists for hostages.
Circle your wagons, get off their Grid every which way as possible. Stop Feeding the Beast.
The MICM Military Industrial Complex Mafia who are out partying on their Mega Yachts will figure out a fix to the F-35’s problems. A solution is right around the corner after the US Govnt next $15 Billion installment monthly payment is made.
Btw/ B from CA. I have an authentic American Airlines stamped logo box cutter knife I took off an American Air Checkin ticket Gate Kiosk a year before 911. Yep it was just sitting on the counter there where we boarded the plane. I took it to cut off my Zip ties I put on my luggage so I could open my bags after I landed. I thought about selling that on EBay to the highest bidder. Any takers?
Also btw/ the statute of limitations has run out on my little theft of the AA Box Cutter. It could have been a promotional item free for the taking. Have to check AA for clarfication. Imagine a simple box cutter taking down an entire Nation costing their tax payers about $10 Trullion dollars including lost freedoms.
Go read the poem; “For the Want of a Nail” that pretty much corresponds to 911 attack. For the use of a box cutter a Nation was Lost.
Historically what occurs is that it costs a fortune, is significantly delayed but in the end its unmatched in the world. So and so nation many say has better this and better that. Post Vietnam US military equipment has been the best in the world. Its been proven with the F-15, B2, M1A1 tank.
I’m not saying I agree where and when its used as the reasons have been ostensible at best but the quality of the equipment is unmatched.
Much hubris since you have never fought any big boys. Beating up small countries with very dated and museum ready equipment does not count for much. Even the guys in flip flops and carrying AK’s and RPGs present a problem.
Time to cut losses and move on!
Louisiana Eagle
You know the F35 is bad when Gen. Chuck Yeager said it’s junk, and to pull the plug. He said he would be able to fly circles are the F35 in the 40 year old F15.
Time to cut losses and move on! Now, that was not so hard!
Louisiana Eagle
Buy gold bullion before the debt implosion.
And here in the Land down Under, we just got our first 2 clusterfuck F35s delivered to Amberley AFB. Been watching them last 2 days
Yes, we Australians are paying for a load of junk. Even if this thing has ‘excellent’ sensors it has lots of issues. The ground support and logistics system appears to be absurdly complex. It is as if the manufacturer said where can we make this really complex to rake in the development Dollars.
And some crappy French subs.
Maybe it would be better to just
buy the chinese knock-off (Shenyang J-31)?
Striking a surface to air missile is considered a “slow moving target”? If that is slow, what does the author consider to be a fast moving target? A meteor?
A surface to air launcher is a slow moving target, yes. Its just a truck or a tank with a missile on it.
Air-to-Air missiles are fast, they begin travel at the speed of the aircraft and increase from there. Ground-to-Air missiles start from zero and don’t reach terminal velocities for a while.
I have the guts,”Enough is enough!”,there,that should end this boondoggle!I would also vote out/investigate for ties any involved pols in this project.
The Air Force is by Far the largest Pentagon Department that perpetrates most of this Fraud Waste and Abuse. Besides, the Pentagon still has no idea or can account for 25% of their entire annual budgets that are disappearing also into thin air. That’s a Proven Fact. So where is all the missing money Pentagon? They also lose Airplanes, Tanks, Munitions, Missiles, small firearms, and don’t forget all the Military equipment they left behind to arm ISIS, who were driving new Humvees.
So what is Trumps answer to this?? Why increase the thieves budgets even more. Friggin moron. If I was President, I would cut the Pentagon’s annual budget by 25% every year until they find the missing money. That’s right a-holes cough up the missing Tax payer monies you stole.
Here read this: we are not even at war with Yemen but look what the Pentagon lost there. This Fiasco BTW/ happened under the Obama Administration of Incompetence.
Pentagon loses track of $500 million in weapons, equipment given to Yemen
By Craig Whitlock
March 17, 2015
The Pentagon is unable to account for more than $500 million in U.S. military aid given to Yemen, amid fears that the weaponry, aircraft and equipment is at risk of being seized by Iranian-backed rebels or al-Qaeda, according to U.S. officials.
With Yemen in turmoil and its government splintering, the Defense Department has lost its ability to monitor the whereabouts of small arms, ammunition, night-vision goggles, patrol boats, vehicles and other supplies donated by the United States. The situation has grown worse since the United States closed its embassy in Sanaa, the capital, last month and withdrew many of its military advisers.
In recent weeks, members of Congress have held closed-door meetings with U.S. military officials to press for an accounting of the arms and equipment. Pentagon officials have said that they have little information to go on and that there is little they can do at this point to prevent the weapons and gear from falling into the wrong hands.
“We have to assume it’s completely compromised and gone,” said a legislative aide on Capitol Hill who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
U.S. military officials declined to comment for the record. A defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon, said there was no hard evidence that U.S. arms or equipment had been looted or confiscated. But the official acknowledged that the Pentagon had lost track of the items.
Part of the list Includes:
*1.25 Million rounds of Ammo
*200 Glock 9MM pistols
*200 M4 Rifles
*300 Sets of Night Vision Goggles
*250 suits of body armor
*160 Humvees
*4 Huey II Helicopters
*4 Hand launched Raven Drones
*2 Cessna 208 Transport and surveillance Aircraft
*1 CN 235 Transport and surveillance Aircraft
As a result, the Defense Department has halted shipments to Yemen of about $125 million in military hardware that were scheduled for delivery this year, including unarmed ScanEagle drones, other types of aircraft and Jeeps. That equipment will be donated instead to other countries in the Middle East and Africa, the defense official said.
Although the loss of weapons and equipment already delivered to Yemen would be embarrassing, U.S. officials said it would be unlikely to alter the military balance of power there. Yemen is estimated to have the second-highest gun ownership rate in the world, ranking behind only the United States, and its bazaars are well stocked with heavy weaponry. Moreover, the U.S. government restricted its lethal aid to small firearms and ammunition, brushing aside Yemeni requests for fighter jets and tanks.
In Yemen and elsewhere, the Obama administration has pursued a strategy of training and equipping foreign militaries to quell insurgencies and defeat networks affiliated with al-Qaeda. That strategy has helped to avert the deployment of large numbers of U.S. forces, but it has also met with repeated challenges.
Washington spent $25 billion to re-create and arm Iraq’s security forces after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, only to see the Iraqi army easily defeated last year by a ragtag collection of Islamic State fighters who took control of large parts of the country. Just last year, President Obama touted Yemen as a successful example of his approach to combating terrorism.
“The administration really wanted to stick with this narrative that Yemen was different from Iraq, that we were going to do it with fewer people, that we were going to do it on the cheap,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “They were trying to do with a minimalist approach because it needed to fit with this narrative . . . that we’re not going to have a repeat of Iraq.”
Link to the rest of the article: https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/f-35-boondoggle-can-only-target-stationary-or-slow-moving-objects_03022017#comments
OOPS.. here is the real link to the Article I posted above. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-loses-sight-of-500-million-in-counterterrorism-aid-given-to-yemen/2015/03/17/f4ca25ce-cbf9-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html?utm_term=.b20cb2a8de0a
Guess you didn’t read the recent news about 17 to 1 kill ratio in a mixed ground and air threat environment at the Red Flag exercises. 20 to 1 in some scenarios. Software problems? Your computer updates software daily…why would software evolving / updates be a surprise? Probably better to stick to blogging about things you know about. You obviously only know venom that’s been spewed by others on this subject. Why would you even think about writing on the subject? DJT called the F-35 ‘a great plane’ in his address to Congress this week. He probably knows more about it than you.
The Red Flag results weren’t even at full 3F capes. Those were 3i jets. I agree, these guys here know nothing about this issue. Generally, good site, but articles like this piss me off on the one hand. One the other hand, I kind of like it. “Come on bad guys, you all know my poor little jet can’t do anything right?” Then lights out, good night.
Strange how people who think they are informed /above the fray just repeat the stuff other sheep are bleating about.
Your comment is just as meaningless as others as it’s just your opinion with no supporting evidence.
This Debate Reminds Of This Great Scene : Someone Always Gets Shot In The Head!
I’m Your Huckleberry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8OWNspU_yE
Why can we not modify the the aircraft we have ?
instead of these new pieces of crap ?
We can also save some money and not pay for cost overruns.
This article that takes the facts out of context for the purpose of political spin, it is intellectually dishonest. For example, the capability to target moving objects was originally designed to use cluster bomb technology, after the design approval the US adopted a policy of not using cluster bombs and so the engineers are now redesigning the moving target solution to use a different monition. This deficiency is the result of a requirements change and will have this capability in its final configuration. Another example is that the F-35 can’t fly near lightning storms; lightning storm protection for aircraft is well understood technology and this system has been scheduled to be installed later in the development cycle,this flight restriction is standard for all development aircraft until the lightning protection system has been installed. Other issues listed in this article have already been resolves by new software releases. The truth is that, based on mission capability testing, the F-35 is proving to be a game changer and war winner. I suggest you read the 2017 Red Flag results where the F-35 shot down 15 aggressor aircraft for every friendly lost and it was able to operate and survive within the enemy air defense zone; nothing succeeds like success.
I have a feeling the noise i have been hearing every now and than is one or 2 of these 35’s taking off from an airport that used to have about 6 or so of the ol F16’s and than the 22’s ..this aircraft i hear ( cant see because the overcast and time of day [night] sounds much different ..annoying actually
I think most of us are slow enough to not be a problem.
This Music Video is like the Pentagon Drunk on Tax Payers money.
Cypress Hill – Insane In The Brain (Official Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RijB8wnJCN0
Have to ask the pilots.
Would you want to fly the F-35 into combat?
Anon,
LOTS of them say NO!! I to know some about the F-35 and it has many problems, what they are determined to do is make the miind controlled aitcraft work, YES for those who don’t know it has a helmet that is SUPPOSE to take control of the plane just by thinkng! that is where some of the issues are. the rest are logistics caused by this function. some day it wil work correctly, depending on the mind of the pilot, for now it is a useless piece of hardware.
finding pilots wont be a problem
soon, they wont be training any cockpit rangers to fly any of their junk
no “in the seat” pilot flys a predator drone .. right?
Im sure most can figure out where this will be going, moving forward.
somewhere in Cheyenne Mtn. is a place where all the pilots will be sitting in rooms, flying what ever POS your tax dollars were wasted on
Trillion dollars? I’ve got some Sopwith Camels that I’ll sell to the govt for half that… and CAN hit moving targets above and beyond what the F-35 can (which is only, at present, earthworms, slugs and turtles)
This article is a joke. The F-35 has issues but the writer omits the fact that the block F update was just the next software update for the aircraft. It’s not the final update. These “update phases” are designed to keep the project moving along while at the same time identifying problems that need to be fixed. Once addressed they then move to the next update phase. It’s called being thorough. The F-35 isn’t slated to be fully upgraded “final finished product” until 2018 at the earliest. The plane is going to be second to none once it’s finished. Everyone is complaining about a process that they don’t understand. However, I do think that cost overruns should not be paid for by the taxpayer. Our government should hold LM accountable and make them address budget concerns themselves. It’s their responsibility not ours.
The F-22 and F-35 will dominate for years to come once the project is completed.
Well, OK… just as long as they don’t start using Windows 98 or Windows ME as the OS… or any other Microsoft product for that matter! Y’know, as our intrepid pilot is closing in on the Red Baron Jr. the 3rd, you don’t want a blue screen of death suddenly appearing!
There is no Sunk Cost fallacy here, nothing emotional at all. The MIC has a vein open and they don’t want to give up the blood sucking.
<bb
The F-35 is a wonderful and highly advanced plane.
If we could just figure out how to make it fly it would be perfect.
The F-35 is all about software.
China produces more genius level children than the US produces total children.
While that is sinking in, may I say, we are totally fucked.
The Chinese and Russians have really good EMP weapons that make the F-35 fall out of the sky.
The F-35 is best served launching it’s weapons while still sitting on the runway.
More theft of taxpayer dollars. Rumsfeld’s missing trillions. No public release of those names who gambled on the passenger jets going down on 9-11. The pentagon cruise missile strike wiped out those investigating the stolen trillions. Covered tracks just touching the surface of the blatant treason. A nation of otherwise occupied morons.
Anyone questioning the official narrative with rational thought is referred to as a kook. That question is not just limited to where is the aircraft wreckage and why is there no video showing the airliner striking the building in an area that must have a camera density not exceeded anywhere in the world.
One comes to the conclusion that there is absolutely nothing they’re unwilling and incapable of doing.
The per plane cost has been consistently going down as the F-35 production and delivery rates increase. Initial per plane costs were around $150 million and are now $95 million which is about the same as a F/A-18 Super Hornet. The F-35 cost is now below other fourth generation fighters that provide far less capability. For reference the below costs are from a July 2016 fighter procurement cost report.
Aircraft Type Unit Costs in millions
Rafale C $ 135.8
Rafale M $ 145.7
JAS-39C Gripen $ 76.07
F-18E Super Hornet $ 95.3
Eurofighter EUR $ 141.9
F-15E Strike Eagle $ 108.2
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter $ 112.5 (As of 3/3/2017 $95)
F-22A Raptor $ 338.8
The Russians have stuck with and produced brute force, unstoppable, mechanically operated jets that fly like the wind, and can fly beyond the natural abilities of their pilots.
The US has a bunch of plastic, lightweight, software driven boondoggles that will drop out of the sky as soon as the Russians hit the EMP button.
I’m not a happy camper.
Russia has always used a brute force battle approach where they are willing to take high casualties to where down the enemy. Ground forces are their primarily offensive weapon, as the ground forces move forward the SAM umbrella move along with it to deny the airspace to their advisory. Russian aircraft primarily operate within their own air defense umbrella on CAS, tactical, and intercept missions.
The US is far more casualty adverse and used airpower to do as must damage to enemy forces and follows up with ground forces or uses ground forces as a blocking force to slow and bottle-up the enemies advance.
The differences in the order of battle between Russia and the US, pits US airpower against Russian air defense systems first and Russian air power second. US air assets must be the capability to operate within the enemy air defense zone and to acquire priority targets first, destroy air defense systems second, and pass targeting information on to fourth generation and standoff systems such as cruise missile and multiple rocket launchers third. The F-22 and F-35 are critical to achieving battle field initiative while keeping casualties to a minimum.
It’s interesting is that most on this comment string can sight all the issues of the project but can’t seem to bring themselves to acknowledge the results of on-going mission capabilities testing. The F-35 is producing excellent results during individual USMC and USAF testing. It was able to share over the horizon tracking data for a cruise missile(not a slow target)to an Aegis cruiser which fired a missile that the F-35 guided to intercept the target at 300+ miles from the ship. Seems such a capability would serve Australian defense well?
It has produced extraordinary results during the recent Red Flag joint international exercise. All the pilots who have flown the F-35 on these test missions have spoken to it as a game changer.
“34th Fighter Squadron commander Lt. Col. George Watkins insisted that “all our mission systems were up every time.” If given the option of flying a fifth-generation F-35 into combat, or taking in an older fourth generation F-16, Watkins was categorical: “I would not want to go back and take an F-16 back into Red Flag.”
The Motley Fool who published the leaked controversial F-16 vs. F-35 maneuver test comparisons have done an about-face, printing in their latest article:
“Concerns about the F-35’s combat efficacy may have been overblown.”
It’s proving itself so effectively that now Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, and Finland are considering F-35 purchases.
So… hang the pencil pushers if you must, but don’t pretend the F-35 isn’t delivering results.