Behind that sum, which we may as well round up to a fifth of a billion dollars, lies an F-35 falling out of the sky in Alaska recently. I'm minded of an incident on a UK carrier where much the same happened after a foam intake cover protecting the jet engine from the elements was left in situ, where it was ingested and condemned the aircraft to a watery grave.
Problem though with everything is that as it gets bigger, so more complicated, which is why what survives catastrophe tends to be annoying stuff like cockroaches and scorpions (not the band, they're toast). I once looked at a list of what systems are affected by the WoW or weight-on-wheels switch on the Boeing 737, and gave up after the first several pages.
It was not overly cold in Alaska on the day, at zero degrees Celsius, but sufficient to freeze water during a forty-minute holdover. During the time water in the hydraulic fluid froze, meaning the gear would not retract after take-off. What is concerning is that (a) apparently this was not unknown on the type and (b) it could also affect the flight controls. Which it did.
Following a couple of touch-and-goes to reset the system and straighten an offset nose-wheel, inter-related systems became convinced that the aircraft was back on the ground... where different flight control rules apply. I recall this to be the case on the Airbus, in order to better manage things in two dimensions instead of three.
The pilot ejected unscathed, and beside Lockheed engineers being called out for not having referenced the circular, blame ultimately lay with the aircraftman responsible for storing the hydraulic fluid in a way that would not attract water... which it does. I always say that whenever anything goes wrong, it is always better to work your way down the ranks, because that is where the lowest salaries accrue. And if you've just burned through a 0.20 billion dollars of the taxpayers' money, you'd be looking to save every cent.
For although the F-35 is undoubtedly the finest means of delivery, it is proving to be less so in some cases than 10,000 of the largest delivery drones you may otherwise buy (or rather more given bulk purchase and foreign government subsidy). It could be that sooner rather than later the only things flying or sailing in numbers are ones designed to move large numbers of people or large amounts of freight from A to B.
And drones.
The above replaces the Sunday sermon scheduled for today... what do you expect for free?
