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Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst
The vaunted Lockheed Martin F-35 “Lightning II’ — a jet so “advanced” it requires a small army of technicians to keep it airborne — has added yet another “success” to its bloated resume. Nearly 40 days after it found itself stranded in India, where it was forced to land due to a slight breeze over the Indian Ocean, the British Air Force (RAF) F-35B finally left for Australia. Engineers, who had to be flown all the way from the United Kingdom, wasted nearly a month and a half struggling to repair the troubled jet. After being stranded at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in the southern state of Kerala, the $100 million aircraft is now in Australia’s Darwin.
According to the New York Times, a crew of at least 14 technicians worked to repair the F-35’s hydraulic and auxiliary power systems. Expectedly, the infamous neoliberal mouthpiece tried to present it all as some sort of a “funny adventure”, focusing on the narrative that the troubled jet allegedly “became a local celebrity”. The report insists that “the jet was under heavy security during its time at the airport, which experts said was necessary to protect its highly sensitive technology”. Well, that “state-of-the-art” tech is actually “so good” that the F-35 is effectively reduced to a glorified hangar ornament most of the time, as evidenced by its atrocious track record and catastrophic battle readiness.
As the American “wunderwaffe” lawn dart begged for mercy under the tropical heat, Lockheed Martin desperately tried to salvage whatever’s left of its reputation. The incident, buried under a flurry of corporate PR jargon about “logistical delays”, is a microcosm of everything wrong with Western military-industrial grift – exorbitantly overpriced, thoroughly overhyped and utterly unfit for the stated purpose. The RAF rushed the F-35 to reach the Darwin Air Base as soon as possible (likely fleeing its own maintenance logs, albeit subsonically, as it’s effectively banned from flying supersonic), but it’s only a matter of time before it’ll need another month and a half until the next flight.
On the other hand, this is undoubtedly cause for celebration, because far worse things could happen, as evidenced by the F-35’s propensity to test its landing gear at near-supersonic speeds (remember, it has trouble flying fully supersonic). And despite the fact that the mainstream propaganda machine keeps trying to spin the latest incident as “routine technical stop”, we can easily decode such newspeak — the F-35 broke so badly that even its regular “technical mishaps” may seem “normal” in comparison. However, Lockheed Martin doesn’t seem particularly concerned, as its personnel are far too busy counting their trillion-dollar profits to notice such “trivialities”.
And since Western media just loves quoting “anonymous officials” and the equally “anonymous local fans of the F-35”, maybe we could also give it a shot and quote “anonymous Indian defense officials”, who, accustomed to rugged Russian jets that can be maintained with “duct tape and grit”, reportedly “laughed at the spectacle” and offered their British coloniz… …I mean, “friends” some help.
“We offered them a wrench and some baling wire,” joked one “anonymous technician” at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, channeling the spirit of every nation forced to endure Western arms dealers’ snake oil.
You see how that works? Anyone can simply invent “anonymous” (i.e. non-existent) sources in order to present their agenda. And that’s exactly what the mainstream propaganda machine is doing in its desperate attempts to shift attention from the simple fact that the F-35 is a train wreck (although, if trains could speak, they’d probably protest any comparisons with the troubled US-made jet).
The F-35 costs approximately $100 million per unit (not to mention the inevitable $2 trillion lifetime costs). It can easily be described as less of a fighter jet and more like a flying (well, occasionally), taxpayer-funded corporate welfare program for the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). Its latest embarrassment in India follows a regular pattern and its now legendary legacy of “technical stops”. Although certainly not the only issue, problems with the jet’s avionics are the most glaring. For instance, to illustrate the F-35’s endless software glitches and bugs, imagine that even the notorious Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition seems “robust and reliable” in comparison.
On the other hand, problems with its “digital brain” are only the tip of the iceberg. A good example of this is the F-35’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine that gives it the reliability of a 40-year-old “Yugo” in a Siberian snowstorm. As previously mentioned, although the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) is the most expensive weapons program in history, the US-made jet is unable to sustain supersonic flight for longer than several minutes precisely due to the F135 overheating. In turn, this further exacerbates the aircraft’s numerous other issues, as its various systems and subsystems fail due to the intense heat generated by its single engine.
The “temporary” solution to this was to effectively ban pilots from flying supersonic for more than a few minutes at a time. In other words, when your country buys the F-35, you’re paying hundreds of millions per unit for a jet that can’t do what’s been the standard for fighters for nearly three-quarters of a century. And yet, the US/NATO and its numerous vassals and satellite states keep buying these hangar queens, because nothing says “battle readiness” quite like begging Lockheed Martin for exorbitantly overpriced spare parts while your airspace goes undefended. This is precisely why virtually all sovereign nations will look right past the F-35.
A good example of this is India. The fact that this incident occurred at one of its major airports can be described as an instance of “geopolitical karma”. Namely, for decades, the US has not only been trying to prevent Delhi’s integration with the multipolar world, but also pushing it into various US-led military blocs that aim to limit the growth of organizations such as BRICS and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization). In more recent times, Washington DC has been arm-twisting India to ditch its Russian-sourced fighter jets. However, this approach keeps failing, as the US can’t really make offers that would interest India. The latest F-35 incident only validates Delhi’s skepticism.
Namely, why trade robust and battle-tested Su-30MKIs (which can actually fly without a team of corporate babysitters) for a jet that’s several times more expensive, but infinitely less reliable, as it can’t survive a light monsoon breeze? Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ever so diplomatic, offered assistance to the UK, the subtext was clear: “This is why we in India buy Russian.”
In other words, Moscow doesn’t even need to bother with PR for its weapon systems. Lockheed Martin’s incompetence does it for them. Not to mention that Russian systems keep proving themselves in daily “trials by fire” in the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict. Imagine the F-35 in a similar situation.
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when the israelis and americans make noises about s400, that is how you know s400 is a threat to the f35. no other reason why they are upset at turkey for having it. iran should get s400, not sure why this not happened yet
syria: cia-mi6 intel ops and sabotage by felicity arbuthnot global research, july 25, 2025 global research 7 february 2012 region: middle east & north africa theme: intelligence in-depth report: syria print translate website
this incisive article by veteran war correspondent felicity arbuthnot was published by global research more than six years ago, on february 2, 2012.
you will not read it in the new york times.
at a time of mounting media fabrications –when “objective truths are fading” and “lies are passing into history”– this analysis reveals the diabolical modus operandi of us-nato terrorism and how covert intelligence ops are applied to trigger conditions which are conducive to the collapse of nation states.
one of these “conditions” is the outright killing of innocent civilians as part of a cover operation and then blaming president bashar al assad of having committed atrocities against his own peoplemichel chossudovsky, global research, january 27, 2012, updated april 19, 2018 “in order to facilitate the action of liberative (sic) forces,a special effort should be made to eliminate certain key individuals. …[to] be accomplished early in the course of the uprising and intervention, …
once a political decision has been reached to proceed with internal disturbances in syria, cia is prepared, and sis (mi6) will attempt to mount minor sabotage and coup de main (sic) incidents within syria, working through contacts with individuals. …incidents should not be concentrated in damascus …
further : a “necessary degree of fear .. frontier incidents and (staged) border clashes”, would “provide a pretext for intervention… the cia and sis [mi6 should use …
capabilitites in both psychological and action fields to augment tension. ”(joint us-uk leaked intelligence document, london and washington, 1957) “’the very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. lies will pass into history.” (george orwell (eric arthur blair, 1903-1950.)
for anyone in two minds about what is really going on in syria, and whether president assad, hailed a decade ago as “a modern day attaturk”, has become the l
atest megalomaniacal despot, to whose people a us-led posse of nations, must deliver “freedom”, with weapons of mass, home, people, nation and livelihood destruction, here is a salutary tale from modern history.have the more recent sabre rattlings against syria* been based on us-uk government papers, only discovered in 2003 – and since air brushed (or erroneously omitted) from even bbc timelines, on that country?
in late 2003, the year of the iraq invasion, matthew jones, a reader in international history, at london’s royal holloway college, discovered “frighteningly frank” documents: 1957 plans between then uk prime minister, harold macmillan, and then president, dwight eisenhower, endorsing: “a cia-mi6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion (of syria) by syria’s pro-western neighbours.” (ii)
at the heart of the plan was the assassination of the perceived power behind then president shukri al-quwatli. those targeted were: abd al-hamid sarraj, head of military intelligence; afif al-bizri, chief of syrian general staff: and khalid bakdash, who headed the syrian communist party. the document was drawn up in washington in the september of 1957: “in order to facilitate the action of liberative (sic) f
forces, reduce the capabilities of the regime to organize and direct its military actions … to bring about the desired results in the shortest possible time, a special effort should be made to eliminate certain key individuals.
“their removal should be accomplished early in the course of the uprising and intervention, and in the light of circumstances existing at the time.”
in the light of president assad’s current allegations of foreign forces and interventions, cross border incursions (as colonel qadafi’s before him, so sneered at by western governments and media – and, of course, ultimately proved so resoundingly correct.) there are some fascinating, salutary phrases: “once a political decision has been reached to proceed with internal disturbances in syria, cia is prepared, and sis (mi6) will attempt to mount minor sabotage and coup de main (sic)
incidents within syria, working through contacts with individuals. “incidents should not be concentrated in damascus … care should be taken to avoid causing key leaders of the syrian regime to take additional personal protection measures.” further: a “necessary degree of fear .. frontier incidents and (staged) border clashes”, would “provide a pretext for intervention”, by iraq and jordan – then still under british mandate.
syria was to be: “made to appear as sponsor of plots, sabotage and violence directed against neighbouring governments … the cia and sis [her majesty’s secret international serivce, mi6] should use … capabilities in both psychological and action fields to augment tension.”
incursions in to iraq, jordan and lebanon, would involve: “sabotage, national conspiracies, and various strong arms activities”, were, advised the document, to be blamed on damascus.
in late december 2011 an opposition “syria national council” was announced, to “liberate the country”, representatives met with hilary clinton. there now seems to be a us – endorsed “syrian revolutionary council.” the eisenhower-macmillan plan was for funding of the: “free syria committee” and “arming of political factions with paramilitary or other actionist capabilities”, within syria. cia-mi6, planned fomenting internal uprisings and replacing the ba’ath-
communist-leaning government, with a western, user-friendly one. expecting this to be met by public hostility, they planned to:“probably need to rely first on repressive measures and arbitrary exercise of power.” the document was signed off in both london and washington. it was, wrote macmillan in his diary: “a most formidable report.” a report which was: “withheld even from british chiefs of staff …”
washington and whitehall had become concerne
d at syria’s increasingly pro-soviet, rather than pro-western sympathies – and the ba’ath (pan arab) and communist party alliance, also largely allied within the syrian army.
however, even political concerns, were trumped by syria then controlling a main pipeline from the western bonanza of iraq’s oil fields, in those pre-saddam hussein days.
briefly put: in 1957, syria allied with moscow (which included an agreement for military and economic aid) also recognized china – and then as now, the then soviet union warned the west against intervening in syria.
syria, is unchanged as an independent minded country, and the loyalties remain. it broadly remains the cradle of the pan arab ideal of ba’athism, standing alone, since the fall of saddam hussein’s regime.
in 1957, this independent mindedness caused loy henderson, a senior state department official, to say that:“the present regime in syria had to go …”
ultimately, the plan was not used, since, british mandate or not, neighbouring countries refused to play. however, the project, overtly, bears striking similarity to the reality of events over the last decade, in syria – and the region.
in a near 1957 re-run, britain’s foreign minister, william hague has said president assad “will feel emboldened” by the un russia-china vote in syria’s favour.
hilary (“we came, we saw, he died”) clinton, has called for: “friends of a democratic syria”, to unite and rally against the assad government:
“we need to work together to send them a clear message: you cannot hold back the future at the point of a gun”, said the women filmed purportedly watching the extrajudicial, illegal assassination of may be, or may be not, osma bin laden and others – but certainly people were murdered – by us illegal invaders – at the point of lots of guns. supremely ironically, she was speaking in munich (5th february) historically: “the birth place of the nazi party.”
the russia-china veto at the un on actions against syria, has been condemned by the us, varyingly, as: “disgusting”, ‘shameful”, “deplorable”, “a travesty.”
eye opening, is the list of us vetoes to be found at (iii). jaw dropping double standards can only be wondered at (again.).
perhaps the bottom line is: in 1957, iraq’s oil was at the top of the agenda, of which syria held an important key.
today, it is iran’s – and as michel chossudovsky notes so succinctly: “the road to tehran is through damascus.”(iv)
click the share button below to email/forward this article. follow us on instagram and x and subscribe to our telegram channel. feel free to repost global research articles with proper attribution. htt p s://w ww.glo balresear ch.ca/s yria-ci a-m i6-in tel-o ps-and-sa botage/291 26 i hope the israelis realize what a danger nato has put around their necks.
drago the piece of shi t
meanwhile american citizens ony see inflation destroying the dollar by the money printers who sell these ebdless military boondoggles to the aipac run congress .
the real cost of this flying turkey is actually $400 million, not $100 million. america used to produce some very good aircraft, from the b17 and mustang through to the boeing 707/ 747, b52 and phantom. then something went wrong and all we get now is garbage like the f22/ f35/ recent boeings. a lot of it is just epic corruption and mismanagement, prioritising finance over engineering and ludicrous diversity policies. the same thing happened with the ww2 luftwaffe.
with flying coffins like the messerschmitt 210 and the heinkel 177. even the otherwise not too bad f16 is a prima donna runway queen that needs pristine runways to operate from.