US Air Force Permanently Deploys First F-35s in Europe in Response to ‘Resurgent Russia’

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II has been plagued with reliability and cost overrun issues since the first aircraft began to be delivered to the US military in 2015. Over 730 F-35s have been built to date, with the programme having an estimated lifetime cost of more than $1.7 trillion – making the jets the most expensive weapon ever built.