F-35 News. Spending frozen on the troubled jet.

via Gazetta El Sud

Rome, March 20 - Italy has frozen spending on its F-35 jet fighters program, pending a parliamentary review of military spending, says Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti. Her comments during a television interview with La7 Wednesday night, came several days after Premier Matteo Renzi said that defence spending - including the budget for the F-35 program - was under review. This could include three billion euros in potential savings for defence budgets. The government could decide to trim its Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets' budget, which is currently about 11.8 billion euros over 45 years beginning in 2015. "Today we suspended payment of installments," on the F-35, Pinotti told the program The Barbarian Invasion. "We are having a moratorium, pending the results of an inquiry by Parliament," she added.

A certain blogger I know told me I was full of shit when I posted news that the F-35 would be cut to 45 jets by the Italians.

He went through a long song and dance about how this was just a minor thing and that they would be back in the fold buying 90 odd jets shortly.

That blogger failed to take into account current economic conditions worldwide.

Globalization is breaking down.  Economies around the world are on the verge of bankruptcy.  In short.  Everyone is is in a hurtlocker and defense spending is the first sacrificial lamb of the masses.

The Netherlands was first, Italy is second, and I predict that the frugal Canadians will be third.  But they won't be the last.  Even the USAF will be hit with the reality bat and the F-35 order will be cut.

I say again.

The death spiral is here.