Allies Cancel Orders of F-35s, the Fighter Jets That Will Cost $2 Trillion
So far, President Donald Trump’s second term in office has been characterized by antagonism to allied nations. In just two months, Trump has shown hostility to the NATO defense alliance while gleefully pursuing a trade war against Canada and Mexico by imposing double-digit tariffs on the two largest purchasers of U.S. goods for specious reasons only to then agree to a pause, before repeating the cycle all over again.
One side effect of Trump’s brash, undiplomatic attitude is that some allied nations may back out of purchasing F-35 fighter jets from the U.S., the latest indignity in a program that has infamously become a years-long boondoggle.
“The F-35 Lightning II aircraft (F-35) is the Department of Defense’s (DOD) most ambitious and costly weapon system and its most advanced fighter aircraft,” according to an April 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). “However, DOD’s projected costs for sustaining the F-35 continue to increase while planned use of the aircraft declines.” While the DOD plans to keep the jet in service through 2088, it estimates the cost to do so at $2 trillion.
The department has little to show for the exorbitant price tag. “DOD plans to fly the F-35 less than originally estimated, partly because of reliability issues with the aircraft,” GAO found. “The F-35’s ability to perform its mission has also trended downward over the past 5 years.”
In September 2018, the jet entered its initial testing phase, expected to last a year. In November 2019, a DOD assessment extended the testing period another year due to the sheer amount of problems it had found. “Although the program office is working to fix deficiencies, new discoveries are still being made, resulting in only a minor decrease in the overall number,” the report found.
Among the jet’s issues were “unacceptable” accuracy in its mounted gun and 873 separate software problems, 13 of which were classified “must-fix” issues “that affect safety or com
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