Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released a new issue brief, “The F-35 Does Not Need an Alternate Engine,” co-authored by CAGW President Tom Schatz and Director of Research Sean Kennedy, which details why the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) alternate engine should not be developed and how it is a waste of the taxpayers’ money. Like it was when the first version of the alternate engine was terminated in 2011, it is once again being opposed by the Department of Defense, the White House, and taxpayer groups, but supported by members of Congress who are trying to serve their parochial interests at the expense of national security priorities.

Tom Schatz and Sean Kennedy issued the following statement:

“CAGW won a multi-year, multi-faceted battle to eliminate funding for a wasteful alternate engine for the F-35 that should stay dead and buried. Upgrading the existing engine would be far less costly, and the alternate engine is not compatible with all three versions of the JSF, making it illogical and particularly wasteful to fund its development. Questions have also been raised about pilot safety if the alternate engine is deployed, and any alleged harm to the industrial base from using a sole-source engine is overblown. The projected lifetime operations and maintenance costs of the JSF, the most expensive weapons system in history, are $1.727 trillion, so trimming costs in the program is vital. This issue brief is part of CAGW’s and CCAGW’s multi-faceted effort to stop members of Congress from unnecessarily wasting billions of dollars on the duplicative and unnecessary alternate engine.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement, and abuse in government.

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