The Pentagon's interim leader strongly criticized the F-35 design and manufacturing program.
At high-level meetings at the Pentagon, Mr. Patrick Shanahan, the interim leader of the US military, made strong criticisms of Lockheed Martin's program related to the F-35 fighter jet, according to a report by the US publication Politico.
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| Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II aircraft. Photo: Flickr/ Lockheed Martin |
According to one of the publication's interlocutors, Mr. Shanakhan used obscene words about the F-35 and said that Lockheed Martin does not know how to implement the program to create a fifth-generation fighter, Politico writes.
In fact, since he was the Deputy Secretary of Defense of the United States, at department meetings, Mr. Shanakhan has repeatedly made very negative statements about the F-35 design and manufacturing program, saying that it is a "bad" program, and at the same time criticized the director of Lockheed Martin, according to another source.
Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II program has become the most expensive in U.S. arms production history, costing about half a trillion dollars. Developers have exceeded their estimates by hundreds of billions of dollars, and the fighter is entering service seven years later than expected.
At the same time, the media has also repeatedly reported on various technical problems of this type of aircraft. Specifically, National Interest said that due to design characteristics, the F-35 is susceptible to lightning strikes.
