Washington (CNN) Sen. John McCain slammed the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's troubled history Tuesday, saying it "has been both a scandal and a tragedy with respect to cost, schedule and performance."
The development of the Joint Strike Fighter, a fifth-generation stealth jet, has been beset by spiraling costs and schedule delays. The program's price tag is nearly $400 billion for 2,457 planes -- almost twice the initial estimate. McCain, an Arizona Republican, called the cost overruns "disgraceful" and noted that the F-35 program had originally promised 1,013 fighters by fiscal year 2016 but had only delivered 179.
McCain added that the plane's delays meant that "the last F-35 will be delivered in 2040," and given that potential adversaries like China and Russia were investing in modern aircraft technology, he said he "cannot fathom how this strategy makes any sense."
He made the comments while chairing a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the F-35.
