Not only is it the most expensive fighter jet they could buy anywhere in the world, not only does it repeatedly crash,
You can’t repair it yourself.
You have to get engineers flown from the USA for repairs because there’s secret tech in it that you are not allowed to open yourself.
What a fucking piece of shit plane, I sincerely think it was created just to see who is still licking the US’ boots to this day.
I think in the context of the post-Cold War era you can argue that they don’t have real incentive to actually put out good machinery. USA has not been in direct conflict with an opponent that can go toe to toe with them. Both Iraq and Afghanistan were outmatched. They don’t have much use for fighter jets since they are busy droning weddings. So it’s just them being complacent.
Obviously not saying that you are unaware of this or what you said wasn’t a joke. Still worth pointing out.
American government is indirectly run by weapons manufacturers through lobbying. Whatever they put out, the government will end up buying.
Part of the reason, for jets at least, is Lockheed and Boeing now effectively have monopoly on the entire military aircraft industry in the US. They pretty much out-marketing the actually good aircraft manufacturer, like Douglas (which got took over by Boeing), Vought (defunct in 2001), or Northrop (became irrelevant since 2000). Lockheed and Boeing have the benefit of having people in the right place in both the government and in the military itself, thus they have easier time securing contract for machine that are, most of the time, a gimmick.
So yeah, another one to the list of “Capitalism kill innovation”.
Lockheed and Boeing are the same thing to the aircraft industry as what EA/Activision are to the gaming industry.
Crony capitalism moment