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Several Asian countries are interested in the American F-35 JSF. But Canada’s U-turn on buying the jet won’t encourage Asian partners to sign up any time soon. Will the program survive?

For a stealth plane, the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) certainly attracts a lot of criticism.

It was the future weapon system that promised so much — enough for the United States and its allies to draw up wide-eyed plans for over 3,100 JSFs while the plane was still little more than an idea. The JSF was going to guarantee air superiority for the U.S. and its partners well into the middle of this century. But ever since rising costs, technical complexities, and missed deadlines have badly hurt the machine’s credibility, to the point where some critics advocate freighting the F-35 straight to the museum before it ever enters active service.

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My Comment: The Canadian auditor's report on the F-35 program is/was a wake-up call on what are the real costs for buying and maintaining an F-35 fleet. As a result .... I am not surprised to see everyone starting to develop cold feet .... including the Americans. But unlike the Americans who are politically tied to the F-35, Canada and many other countries (Asia included) have a few options.