From Loren Thompson, Forbes: “President-elect Trump is right in saying the program doesn't need to cost as much as it does. Even if you remove the 50 years of inflation "guess-timates" in the program's trillion-dollar price-tag, it is clear that a lot of the money spent on the F-35 fighter is not related to meeting the operational needs of three different military services. For instance, 20-30% of the price for each fighter results from having to comply with government regulations that don't exist in the commercial world. If Boeing's jetliner unit had to follow the thousands of regulations military contractors do in developing products, it would soon be out of business. Its prices would be too high.”
From Brad Lendon, CNN: “The world is getting a fresh look at Russia's newest stealth fighter jet after images were posted on the manufacturer's website. Most of the photos show the twin-engine Sukhoi T-50 jet operating from runways on a snow-covered airfield, although a location was not given in a report on RT.com, which surfaced the pictures on Sunday. According to the metadata on the photos released by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant, the images were taken last Thursday. Russian media reported in October that the ninth prototype of the T-50 would be undergoing trials later this year. The single-seat T-50 is Russia's first stealth fighter.”