Lockheed's F-35, a $300 Billion Trip to Nowhere
Downside of Dominance?
Popularity of Lockheed Martin's F-16 Makes Its F-35 Stealth Jet a Tough Sell
By Michael S. Rosenwald
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 17, 2007; D01
FORT WORTH -- Here in Hangar 8, three shifts of Lockheed Martin technicians assemble F-16s, one of the most powerful and widely used fighter jets in history. They work tediously by hand -- bolt by bolt, wire by wire -- turning the plane's belly into a colorful work of industrial art later covered by 18,000 pounds of aluminum. The saying around here: Kick the tire, light the fire and then watch the thing zoom away.
. . . An F-16 has never lost an air-to-air battle . . . "There's a pretty good argument to keep building new F-16s forever," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow and military analyst at the Brookings Institution. "It's hard to say you can get a better bang for your buck.". . .
. . . But most importantly, according to Defense and Lockheed officials, the newer jet will be able to do one thing that an …