I can't think of a better example of an evolved military-industrial program Eisenhower feared than that of the F-35. It fits all the criteria Eisenhower worried and fretted over:
- Developed and promoted by the DoD and L-M and sold to Congress as a win/win taking the citizenship out of the equation.
- Advertised and influenced like no other military program has ever been by L-M.
- Politically engineered so as to not be capable of being cancelled no matter its shortcomings or eventual cost.
No US Senator or Representative would dare think of challenging the scope of the F-35 program today. L-M would step into the fray by asserting it would be un-American and anti-job creation/preservation to do anything short of the F-35 master plan. The L-M Washington lobby would swing into gear and throw money into the campaign to defeat any political fool that swims against the F-35 military-industrial tide.
TD