Lifetime Cost To Run F-35 Fighter: About $1 Trillion

[sofa king]

15. Good points.

It occurs to me that since the F-35 is already semi-autonomous itself, with fly-by-wire inputs and onboard systems already overseeing most of the tricky details of takeoff, landing, and maneuver, it may yet have utility by ripping out the cockpit and using it as a mothership for the semi-autonomous weapons that it will inevitably carry.

But that's a job that a Predator already does for a fraction of the cost.

Unfortunately, I cannot foresee any way in which a human being will be able to survive the crushing maneuvers such a vehicle will have to use just to stay in the game, except by removing the pilot from the vehicle entirely.

I really hope we don't have to learn that the hard way. That's how you lose a war in a day.