This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Rep. Rob Bishop, the congressman from Hill Air Force Base and Big Oil, is said to be hoping that his reward for supporting Donald Trump when not every other Republican in the country — or in Utah — did might include a negation of any Bears Ears National Monument that Barack Obama might proclaim on his way out the door.
— Utah's Bishop asks Trump to consider revoking national monuments — Brian Maffly | The Salt Lake Tribune, Dec. 5, 2016
"Utah Rep. Rob Bishop took his case against the Antiquities Act to the Trump presidential transition team Monday, asking the incoming president to consider doing what none of his predecessors have done: Undo national monument designations.
"The influential chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee believes President Barack Obama has misused his executive powers under the 1906 statute by establishing monuments on the West's publicly owned landscapes without local buy-in and including far too much land for the law's narrow scope. ..."
Today, though, Bishop is probably more worried about what The Donald had to say about the shiny new airplane at Hill, the F-35Joint Strike Fighter.
— Trump's tweets that F-35 program is costly has implications for Utah and Lockheed — Nate Carlisle | The Salt Lake Tribune
"Like the roar of a jet overhead, a tweet from President-elect Donald Trump complaining about the cost of the U.S. military's F-35 grabbed attention in Utah and on Wall Street on Monday. ..."
The F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.
" ... The tweet immediately had an effect on the stock price of F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin, wiping out nearly $4 billion of the company's market value.
"Utah has been a major beneficiary of the F-35 program, which is expected to cost a trillion dollars over the decades. The 388th Fighter Squadron at Hill Air Force Base is receiving 72 of the fighter jets, which have stealth technology designed to evade radar, and high tech but expensive helmets that show video displays from multiple sides of the aircraft, as well as computers that find targets in the air or on the ground.
"Also, the Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill conducts maintenance on F-35s from both the U.S. military and its allies. Millions of dollars in construction has already taken place at Hill to accommodate the jets.
"Utah's congressional delegation on Monday, stood by the F-35. ...
" ... Rep. Rob Bishop said he wasn't concerned by Trump's tweet.
" 'So the idea of trying to save money is something that everyone is after,' Bishop said. 'The F-35 is the future of both the Air Force, the Marines and the Navy. There is no other alternative'...."
"
This was predicted by our friends to the North:
— What if Trump's next tweet is about the F-35? — Ogden Standard-Examiner Editorial, Dec. 7, 2016
"President-elect Donald Trump tweeted this Tuesday, Dec. 6:
" 'Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!'
"If he feels that strongly about the cost of Air Force One, imagine what he'd tweet about the F-35. ..."
Also:
— Trump Rips Major Government Contractors — Who's Next? — Cary O'Reilly | Bloomberg
"Where President-elect Donald Trump may focus his social-media attacks next is fast becoming a parlor game in Washington and on Wall Street, after he tweeted criticisms of the high cost of some government contracts won by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.
"A Bloomberg Government review found that the F-35 program, jointly developed by Lockheed and United Technologies Corp., is the single most expensive active Pentagon military contract, with almost $379 billion in current or planned spending over its lifetime. ..."
The cost-effectiveness of the F-35 has long been questioned. These are a bit old, but I've not heard anything that contradicts them:
" ... The jets were meant to enter service in 2012, but Sir Nick Harvey, who served as the Minister of State for Armed Forces between 2010 and 2012, said that there was 'not a cat in hell's chance' that the jet would be in British service by 2018. ..."
— Fighter plane cost overruns detailed — Andrea Drusch | Politico, Feb. 16, 2014
"The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is $163 billion over budget, seven years behind schedule, and will cost taxpayers about twice as much as sending a man to the moon. But according to Pentagon officials, the Lockheed Martin-built plane is light years ahead of its competition from other countries, and there's no turning back on the project now.
"In an interview with CBS's '60 Minutes' that aired Sunday night, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer, Frank Kendall, called the $400 billion purchase 'acquisition malpractice' that strayed from the long-standing 'fly-before-you-buy' rule. ..."
— Pentagon's big budget F-35 fighter 'can't turn, can't climb, can't run' — David Axe | Reuters, July 14, 2014
" ... For starters, the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 — which can avoid sensor detection thanks to its special shape and coating — simply doesn't work very well. The Pentagon has had to temporarily ground F-35s no fewer than 13 times since 2007, mostly due to problems with the plane's Pratt & Whitney-made F135 engine, in particular, with the engines' turbine blades. The stand-downs lasted at most a few weeks. ..."
— The F-35: Is the world's most expensive weapons program worth it? — Zachary Cohen | CNN, July 16, 2015
" ... The list of flaws and deficiencies is extensive, according to Democratic California Rep. Jackie Speier. She said that the F-35's logistics system is 80% unreliable, its engine stability is "extremely poor" and electronics in the individually sculpted $400,000 pilot's helmet is currently unable to distinguish friend from foe. ..."