Is it necessary to spend $400 Billion + to develop and build the new F35 series fighter jets?

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 10:05:16 -0400

Lockheed Martin has been working on the F35 Lightening II project since 1997. They will eventually produce a total of 2457 planes at the cost of $400 billion dollars. I agree these planes will be technologically advanced and will replace some of our aging fighter planes and that we need to always be moving forward. It's just that it is hard to accept that price tag especially when we are hearing that there are issues with the engine reliability and they are already looking at design changes. This new jet will fire 3300 rounds per minute, have vertical take off and landing capabilities, be undetectable by radar systems, extended range and have the capability to fly at 50,000 ft. Is it possible that what we are seeing is the same as we have seen in many other cases where our government is paying over the amount it should to develop this system? Is Lockheed martin finding new ways to increase the development time? Or is all of this justified? What bothers me most is that there doesn't seem to be a end point for sending money to this project.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/06/29/f-35-us-joint-strike-fighter-jet-profile-orig.cnn/video/playlists/military-technology/

The U.S. military's $400B fighter jet - CNN Video

The U.S. military prepares to declare its $400 billion F-35 fighter jet ready for initial combat use. CNN's Thom Patterson reports.