1

Ryan Hathaway
Government, Period 3
Mr. Rogers
October 28, 2015
Mock Congress Research Paper
The United States military is the most powerful and advanced fighting force on the planet.
We outmatch all other countries in regards to Air Force, Navy, and Army, but this does not come
without a cost. The United States government spends more on defense each year than the next
seven countries combined. This tendency to overspend on the military can be seen in the F-35
JSF program. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), also called the Lightning II, is a new aircraft
being procured in different versions for the United States Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy
(Simmons, 2). The goal of this program is to create next generation fighter jets to provide the
United States and other countries with superior aircraft in the years to come. As of this time there
are currently three aircraft being developed, one for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines. This
program has been going on for some time now and has, over the years, had many problems and
setbacks. The Military Funding Reform Act should be signed into law because the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter program is extremely costly, over budget and behind schedule, the F-35 JSF is not
an effective and superior fighter jet compared to existing planes, and US military and defense
programs often have major cost overruns and often fall behind schedule.
The Military Funding Reform Act would be beneficial for the United States because it would
reduce funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, an already costly program that is way
over budget and behind schedule. The militarys Joint Strike Fighter program is one of the most
expensive military projects in the history of the United States Military, and this is largely due to

the many setbacks that the program has faced since it began. American taxpayers will pay
between will pay between $148 million and $337 million per jet in 2015, depending on the
model (Francis). In comparison the current United States military fighter jet, the F-16, costs
between $14 million and $18 million per jet. That is an overall difference in cost of between
$130 million and $329 million per aircraft. This obscene cost is only made even greater due the
setbacks that this program has faced during its development and creation. The extreme
sophistication of the F-35 and the additional technical challenge of building three distinct types
of aircraft with a common airframe and engine have resulted in significant cost growth and
schedule delays, and additional cost growth and schedule delays remain a possibility (Gertler).
If the pattern so far with this program continues in the years to come then the United States
military could be looking at billions of dollars in unexpected costs to maintain this program. The
program is intended to continue until 2055 with the military purchasing over 2,000 F-35s. With
the setbacks and extra expenses this program is likely to have over its life span the military could
spend much more that its planned $1.5 trillion. According to the Government Accountability
Office (GAO), The program has continued to experience development and testing discoveries
over the past year, largely due to a structural failure on the F-35B durability test aircraft, an
engine failure, and more test point growth due to software challenges than expected. Together,
these factors have resulted in delays to the programs test schedule (Sullivan). The massive
costs associated with this programs delays are not a wise use of US military funds, especially
considering that the F-35 JSF isnt much of an upgrade from the its predecessors the F-16 and F22.
The Military Funding Reform Act should be passed because the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
Program doesnt offer enough of an upgrade over existing fighter jets to be worth its massive

cost. The Joint Strike Fighter is supposed to be a 5th generation fighter jet with advanced stealth
capabilities, superior speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, as well as other cutting
edge technology. The F-35 is designed to be capable of defeating all modern advanced threat
systems on the ground or in air. However, this has not been the case. In testing so far the F-35
has not performed at the level of a 5th generation fighter jet. According to a leaked test report
from an unnamed test pilot, The stealth fighter proved too sluggish to reliably defeat the F-16,
even with the F-16 lugging extra fuel tanks. Even with the limited F-16 target configuration, the
F-35A remained at a distinct energy disadvantage for every engagement (Axe). The F-35 JSF is
intended to have the capabilities to outmatch any hostile aircraft in the foreseeable future;
however, the F-35s inability to even defeat its predecessor the F-16 in air to air combat shows
that it is not performing anywhere near its intended level. An aircraft that costs millions of
dollars but is unable to compete with the aircraft it is meant to replace is not worth the money
that it is receiving from the military and defense budget. But this is not the only worry with the
F-35. In 2014, the entire fleet of F-35s was grounded following an engine fire during testing,
and the program has experienced persistent software problems that have slowed mission testing
and resulted in schedule delays (Cohen). These constant and persistent malfunctions occurring
in the F-35 JSF have resulted in massive time delays and huge spending increases for this
program. The F-35s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, is developing the fighter jet and at the
same time selling it to the United States military. This has resulted in the military acquiring
incomplete and defective planes while continually facing increasing costs for both the planes
themselves and the cost to fix these planes. According to the GAO, The Department of Defense
plans to significantly increase production rates over the next 5 years. Increasing production while
concurrently developing and testing creates risk and could result in additional cost growth and

schedule delays(Sullivan).This illogical acquisition plan is the main cause of the massive cost
overruns for the program. Although the idea of a 5th generation fighter jet like the F-35 is good,
the development process has been plagued by so many setbacks and errors that it is not a wise
use of the military and defense budget, and therefore should have its funding reduced.
The Military Funding Reform Act is needed for the United because it will set new regulations
on the military in regards to staying on budget and on schedule. This is very much needed due to
the militarys habit of having their programs go over budget and finish behind schedule. In the
US military, weapon programs can take 10 or more years to design, develop, produce, and
deploy, with cost increases of 20 to 40 percent occurring frequently (Fox). For a long time the
US military has been able to incur massive cost overruns with little to no consequences, costing
the US government and tax payers billions of dollars each year. If anyone else were to do
something like this they would be facing major consequences, but since its the Department of
Defense, theres no issue. The Military Funding Reform Act of 2015 would place strict
regulations on the US military to ensure that this doesnt continue. The F-35 promises
significant advances in military capability. Like many high-technology programs before it,
reaching that capability has put the program above its original budget and behind the planned
schedule (Gertler). It is not uncommon for US military and Defense programs to go over budget
and behind schedule. In fact, it is quite common. The Department of Defense seems to be able to
overspend by millions of dollars on its project without punishment. This bill aims to change that
by creating stricter regulations and penalties to guarantee military projects dont overspend. For
many years the military has been allowed to go over budget by billions of dollars and finish
years behind schedule with little to no consequence. This bill aims to change that and keep the
military accountable for its spending.

Two arguments supporting the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program are that it will be an
upgrade to the United States aging fleet of aircraft and that the increased air superiority and
ability to deal with future threats is worth the cost now. While these two reasons sound good on
the surface, if you dig a little deeper you find that this is not actually the case. The United States
military currently uses the F-22 Raptor as its main fighter jet. The F-22, a critical component of
the Global Strike Task Force, is designed to project air dominance, rapidly and at great distances
and defeat threats attempting to deny access to our nation's Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine
Corps. The F-22 cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft (US Air Force).
The F-22 cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter, why is there any reason to be
building the F-35 JSF, a program that will cost the US government at least $1.5 trillion over its
life span. The F-22 Raptor clearly does not need to be upgrades because it is the most advanced
fighter jet of our time. The second argument, that increased air superiority will be beneficial for
the United States is also false because the F-35 doesnt provide air superiority.
The JSF tester found just one way to win a short-range air-to-air engagementby

performing a very specific maneuver However the technique required a commitment to
lose energy and was a temporary opportunity prior to needing to regain energy and
ultimately end up defensive again. In other words, having tried the trick once, an F-35 pilot
is out of options and needs to get away quick (Axe).
Although the pentagon and Lockheed Martin stand adamant in the fact that this aircraft will be
superior to all others, the tests do not support them at all. The F-35 is supposed to be the United
States answer to all aerial threats in the years to come, yet is unable to outmatch the threats from
the past. This program is clearly not the major upgrade it is supposed to be. So as you can see,
although these two arguments seem valid, they are not as strong as they seem once they are put
to the test.

The reasons that the Military Funding Reform Act should be passed are that the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter program is extremely over budget and behind schedule, the F-35 JSF is not an
effective and superior fighter jet compared to existing planes, and US military and defense
programs often have major cost overruns and often fall behind schedule. Not just in the US
military, but also in the United States government as a whole it seems that the Government has
very few restrictions in what they are able to spend money on, and has ineffective oversight to
make sure that money is spent wisely. This bills goal is to help end this habit in the United States
governments and promote the creation of other laws to help regulate the governments ability to
spend tax dollars. I would ask that each of you vote for the Military Funding Reform Act of 2015
so that we can ensure US citizens tax dollars are being wisely spent on useful programs.

Works Cited
Axe, David. "Test Pilot Admits the F-35 Cant Dogfight." Medium.com. War Is Boring, 29 June
2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2015. <https://medium.com/war-is-boring/test-pilot-admits-the-f-35
can-t-dogfight-cdb9d11a875#.zcvixyfi4>.
Cohen, Zachary. The F-35: Is the Worlds Most Expensive Weapons Program Worth it?
CNNPolitics.com. CNN Cable News Network, 16 June 2015. Web. 24 Sept 2015.
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/16/politics/f-35-jsf-operational-costs/>.
Fox J. Ronald. Can Decades of Military Overspending be Fixed. Harvard Business
School, 16 May 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. <http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/can-decades-of
military-overspending-be-fixed>.
Francis, David. "The $1.5 Trillion Plane That Broke the Air Force." CNBC.com. CNBC, 31
July 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2015. <http://www.cnbc.com/2014/07/31/how-dods-15-trillion
f-35-broke-the-air-force.html>.
Gertler, Jeremiah. "PTC Solutions Are Critical in Joint Strike Fighter Program." Aircraft Eng &
Aerospace Tech Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology 74.2(2002): n. pag.
Www.fas.org. Congressional Research Service, 29 Apr. 2015.Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
<https://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL30563.pdf>.
Simmons, Clayton D., and Vernon F. Morgan. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft Program.
N.p.: Nova Science, 2012. Print.
Sullivan, Michael J. "F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER: Observations on Program Progress."
GAO. US Government Accountability Office, 14 Apr. 2015. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-429T>.

"U.S. Air Force." F-22 Raptor. US Air Force, 23 Sept. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/FactSheets/Display/tabid/224/Article/104506/f-22
raptor.aspx>.