Pixie,By the way I am retired!, so listen up LOL. And apologies...

Pixie,

By the way I am retired!, so listen up LOL.
And apologies to expat and any of our fine American cousins if this sounds like Top Gear.

Far be it for me to disagree with you, but I still strongly believe that the JSF is the best value, last pilot operated airplane that will be built, which everyone wants and needs, and needs to operate at a lower cost. There is no alternative out there and remember the good ol USA will only buy "built in the Good ol USA" kit. So who else can supply? Answer, you guessed it, no-one. Boeing was beaten fair and square by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman (and they were pissed too) in the fly off that spawned the F35.

Do we sit back with our old aircraft and hope the Chinese, Russians, North Koreans or Osama Bin Laden doesn't turn up with a turbocharged MIG that kicks our butts. Hell no, we're red-neck turkey shooters and we MUST have the biggest guns.

So now we have the Chairman Rudd and his Abbott scenario. What else would we buy....you guessed right.

What happens if the USA has a deficit the size of the Grand Canyon....well unless the whole world melts down they will need all those defence jobs to keep the boys busy and off the dole. The Chairman knows we need to support the US with orders as if they go down we go down. It will be like a scene out of Top Gun!

Do I agree the US is in deep doodoo, hell yes, and its a serious worry, which is why I'm moving to Patagonia. Do I think they'll can the F35 having gotten this far....NO, sorry can't see it.

Rudd or Abbott need jobs here too and QHL's extra bodies will be a big column inch provider over the following months. You can just hear Chairman Rudd in his kindergarten teaching voice saying, "we have seen the light, we love the USA, we are so pleased that after our intervention those nice guys from LM have given our super little company an order and God bless Ben Bernanke and lets hope he finds that pot of gold".

CD