Didactic Mind, Ep 70: Requiem on a Joint Strike Flying Piano

This week's episode is all about the F-35 Joint Strike Flopter and the epic debacle that it represents. Well, that's only partly true - it is actually all about the legendary USAF Col. John Boyd, the man behind the Fighter Mafia and the force of nature who transformed the very Art of War in the modern age. In today's podcast, I talk about:

• The longevity of stupid and terrible ideas;
• The idiocies of managerial types who come up with cockamamie "solutions" to problems that they then prolong;
• The need for simplicity and effectiveness in weapons design;
• Why the US military never learns from its mistakes;
• Why the USA will lose its next real shooting war against a serious opponent;
• The true principles of effective fighter design;
• The reasons why the F-35 would never have worked anyway;

... and much, much, MUCH more.

Here is the article that inspired this week's podcast from David Axe over at Forbes, and here is a follow-up article at RT about the same issue that laments the sheer waste and ineptitude involved in spending $1.7 TRILLION on an aircraft that "can't climb, can't turn, can't run".

The Turducken Plane has indeed lived up to its name, and we will all pay the price for American military stupidity as a result.

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Book References in Today's Podcast

• Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War by Robert Coram
• The Mind of War: John Boyd and American Security by Grant T. Hammond
• The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard by James G. Burton
• Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos

Video References in Today's Podcast

• Bill Whittle's classic Afterburner segment on the F-35 Joint Strike Flopter
• Pierre Sprey torches the F-35 in multiple interviews, but this one has to be perhaps the best of his burns;