WASHINGTON, (MILLAT+APP/AFP) – The US Marine Corps
said Tuesday it has sent a squadron of F-35B fighters to Japan, marking the first operational overseas deployment for the controversial jet that is under scrutiny from President-elect Donald Trump.
The planes’ deployment to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni on Honshu
Island marks a major milestone for the F-35, which has been bedeviled by technical glitches and soaring cost overruns.
With a current development and acquisition price tag already at $379
billion for a total of 2,443 F-35 aircraft, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 is the most expensive plane in history, and costs are set to go higher still.
The Marines’ version of the plane, known as the F-35B, is capable of
conducting short takeoffs and vertical landings.
Trump last month sent shockwaves through the aerospace industry when
he tweeted that he wanted rival Boeing to price out a possible alternative.
“Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed
Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!” Trump tweeted December 22.
The F/A-18 Super Hornet does not have stealth capabilities and has
been in use since the late 1990s.
Once servicing, maintenance and other costs for the F-35 are factored
in over the aircraft’s lifespan through 2070, overall program costs have been projected to rise to as much as $1.5 trillion.