The four corners program was certainly interesting, although somewhat swayed towards the anti F35 side.
Most interesting parts for me was ;
-the idea of a mixed fleet being back on the table (Australia -> 48F35 + 48SH)
-the recognition of what prices are going to do once order volumes decrease (the death spiral)
-General Bogdan acknowledging that it could well be possible that some of its capabilities have to be forfeited ,although he didn't directly said so this was exactly the case, he certainly indicated that it could be an issue with his Chevy/Ferrari remark.
-Tom Burbage's statements made during his last visit to Australia that now seem to be nothing more than hollow phrases.
-the acknowledgement that the whole purchasing process was corrupted from the very beginning.
A no-competition entry into a paper program with a lot of empty promises made by the supplier towards the clients setting up mechanisms that make the clients dependant from the very beginning till the very end while basically keeping all high tech and expertise info for themselves, doing all this relying on a lot of people in the participating countries that are so far up LM's ass (pardon my French) that it becomes nauseating to see.
I've even seen it on this board where some implying that one of the benefits of this F35 is that a lot of military personnel currently serving on this project can later join the ranks of Bae and LM as a follow up career.
In many parts of government that would be considered a very clear form of corruption, normally it would be impossible for an involved government worker to go and work immediately for a supplier he worked together with while still being enrolled on the government payroll without respecting a pre set time-frame where they cannot work for said supplier (or sometimes even in the same sector).
Too many politicians, Generals and strategically placed higher officers or defence contract workers change too quickly from one side to the other.
Eg, Jack de Vries first the second in command in the Dutch DoD (secretary to the minister) and immediately afterwards goes working for the company, Hill &Knowlton, that does the
PR for the JSF.
or:
Robert Greenwald: The Real Scandal Involving Generals
Between 2009 and 2011, at least nine of the top-level generals and admirals who retired took positions with these five companies. In fact, 70 percent of the 108 three-and-four star generals and admirals who retired during this time period took jobs with defence contractors or consultants.
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