Why Do the Washington Post and George Will Love the F-35? (opens in new tab)

Thirteen years ago, I made the case against the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism. My argument was based on overall cost (“the most expensive program in our military inventory”), the large number of aircraft proposed for the U.S. Navy (“absence of any other navy with a global presence or a power projection capability”), and the obsolescence of manned aircraft (“the next generation of pilotless armed drones as well as hypersonic cruise missiles h...