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A US satellite image of what was described as a massive light center being constructed in southwest China recently appeared in a torrent of articles in the press. This appeared to be a newly discovered secret job, to the viewers. The reality is quite different.

The US, France, and China are currently the three main players in light integration. China now operates the world’s second most powerful light, the Shenguang-III, located near the” Science City” Mianyang in Sichuan Province. ( The Chinese expression shénɡuānɡ ( 神光 ) translates as “divine light”. ) Completed in 2015, &nbsp, Shenguang-II I is hailed in China as one of the country’s greatest technological achievements.

Before Shenguang-II I went on series, preparing had already begun for a much larger light program, Shenguang-IV, capable of reaching integration fire. This is undoubtedly the service that is depicted in the satellite image. Although it’s difficult to find up-to-date knowledge about Shenguang-IV, Chinese sources had previously reported that the task was being built in Mianyang and was scheduled to be finished” sometime after 2020.” It would have away to 228 light columns and a full signal strength of between 1.5 and 2 megajoules.

Shenguang-IV would thereby rival the largest presently existing system, the US National Ignition Facility ( NIF), and most likely be superior to it in important respects. When NIF was constructed, Shanguang-IV could use modern solutions.

Given that NIF is now a relatively new hospital, which construction began in 1997 and was finished in 2009, with no subsequent job, China would rank first in the world in terms of light integration capabilities.

One should not overlook that Mianyang, where the Shenguang light services are situated, is the leading facility in China for research and development of nuclear weaponry, directed energy weapons and other military-related innovative technology. There are nuclear arms produced it.

Among many other issues, Mianyang is also the site of the fast wind hole, JF-12, the most effective in the world up to the opening of China’s JF-22 hole two years ago.

The legendary Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics ( CAEP), which was formerly known as the” Ninth Institute,” owns the Shenguang facilities. From its creation in 1958 it played a key role in China’s effort to develop nuclear weapons, in the context of the” two bombs, one satellite” ( 两弹一星 ) strategy.

Laser integration has always had a strong defense connection, aside from being one of the most significant pathways to integration as a functional energy source. A giant pulse of laser power, combined with a particle of integration energy the size of a grain of sand, causes the laboratory-scale equivalent of a small hydrogen bomb explosion. This makes it possible to thoroughly investigate bomb-relevant mechanics without violating the US and China’s Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, among other things.

One should not undervalue the significance of the Shenguang light facilities in order for China to strive to be the first country to construct a functioning integration power plant.

The focus of its integration efforts is on electrical confinement systems, especially tokamaks, but China is no putting all of its eggs in one basket. Supporting light fusion and so-called orbital incarceration in general has a number of distinct advantages. The benefits include app to spacecraft propulsion and ultra-high power densities.

China is even looking into laser integration, which has a close relationship to orbital captivity integration.

The most intriguing task of Peng Xianjue, a senior scholar at the above-mentioned China Academy of Engineering Physics, is the Z-FFR fusion-fission combination furnace. In place of a light, this furnace uses the so-called Z-pinch, in which a large pulse of electromagnetic energy&nbsp, compresses and ignites the fusion energy. In Peng’s furnace the particles, generated by merging responses, set fission reactions in a surrounding cover of nuclear materials, thereby releasing large amounts of energy.

A great advantage of this hybrid scheme is that the fusion part can operate below the breakeven, which is much easier to achieve, while the fission part operates below the level of criticality, making a run-way chain reaction impossible.

The government approved the construction of the world’s most powerful Z-pinch device in 2021 for construction in Sichuan province’s Comprehensive Science Center at Xinglong Lake, which will be the first step in its development. According to some reports, construction in already under way.

Meanwhile, it is intriguing to speculate as to when the recent press reports regarding a mysterious new laser facility in Mianyang came to light. We can be certain that the US annually captures dozens, if not hundreds, of satellite reconnaissance images of the Mianyang region. The construction of such a massive laser facility would not have been easy to ignore.

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Donald Trump, does he not want to capitulate Russia, or is he? Whether President Trump is in Washington or his secretary of defense Pete Hegseth and evil president J. D. Vance are traveling in Europe and adopting the tale alliance-management tactic of demeaning your associates at every opportunity, the information regarding the conflict in Ukraine have been as mingled and perplexing as ever.

Whatever the truth, two things are clear:

• Nothing can or will be settled until conversations really begin between the sufferer, Ukraine, and the enemy, Russia – but pre-emptive stress, anger or sadness are meaningless.
• As a long-term, strong, ambitious, and capable partner for Ukraine will be required if Europe wants to safeguard its own security.

This is not a novel discovery. In a world where their post-war partnership with the United States is at best suspended or at worst destroyed, European leaders must find the best way to safeguard their countries ‘ interests.

This implies that making appealing or making concessions to Donald Trump is counterproductive and time wasting. Europe needs to show power, no obsequiousness, to both of the authoritarian bullies it is faced with: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Of course, Europe is divided. However, it usually is, which is why the European Union is important and why even the Union frequently needs to form alliances of the prepared rather than a compromise.

Despite having a number of splinters throughout the Ukrainian battle, the EU has accomplished a lot. According to the Ukraine Support Tracker compiled by Germany’s Kiel Institute, between January 2022 and end-December 2024 Western countries and organizations provided €132 billion worth of defense, humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine ( compared with €114 billion from the United States ). A more €115 billion in upcoming funding has already been promised.

Russian officials and experts are calm about their government’s situation. Ukraine could and would continue to fight if America were to remove its support and Russia were to fail to put an end to its anger. It would most likely continue to lose property, but merely slowly, as it did last year. The loss of long-range British weapons systems that could be used to harm Russia’s supply lines and weapons stocks would be its main draw, but it hasn’t, in any case, had enough to make a significant difference.

The Ukrainians also ring calm about the conditions necessary to reach a peace agreement: they are aware that they have no chance of joining NATO for at least as long as Trump is in office and that they would have to take Russia’s current employment of about 20 % of their country, including Crimea.

But, very fairly, they are not willing to lose any more country, and no willing to accept any limitations on their sovereignty and independence. And they want their partners to offer trustworthy security guarantees to deter a pending Russian war in order to make any deal workable.

This is not a popular thing to say so close to Germany’s February 23 national elections, but the infamous term of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2015 ( referring to a wave of immigration from Syria ) is now fitting for Ukraine:” Wir schaffen auf” – We can do this.

Europe has the power to intervene and give Ukraine the assistance it needs to strengthen its position in the negotiations and protect its safety.

If Ukraine needs to continue fighting and if the Americans don’t offer any more assistance, it can initially pledge to do so.

The stocks of munitions and weapons in Europe are too small for them to significantly affect the war, but their supplies may be enough to avert a Russian threat of fighting without the United States.

Let’s not forget that Germany’s refusal to offer its Corolla missiles last year was the biggest obstacle to providing long-range weaponry next year. A new president and administration may view European security with more vigor.

During peace agreements, the biggest prefer Europe can provide is to promise to send troops to Ukraine to maintain its long-term protection.

The misconception that these forces cannot possibly be supplied by Western forces is widespread. The reality is that security forces can be modest at first and grow over time; after all, if there really is a offer, the chance of a Russian attack would be smaller.

It would be possible to build an initial power consisting of 5, 000 men from each of Italy, Germany, Britain, Sweden, Denmark, France and Poland, for example, and to use those nations ‘ air pushes to maintain “no-fly areas” of the kind that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was asking for in 2022.

As European defense spending grows — which this week’s proposal by Ursula von der Leyen to exempt defense “investment” from the fiscal constraints of the euro-area’s” stability pact” would assist — those forces based in Ukraine can be increased, subject to Russia’s conduct.

If a ceasefire is agreed, the rebuilding of Ukraine’s devastated towns can begin, and it will be costly. The ceasefire would also have the potential to significantly improve Ukraine’s economy and attract people from all over the world, so this should not be seen as just a cost to the EU taxpayer. In the end, the tragic truth of post-conflict reconstruction is that it can be profitable, at least if the conflict is truly over.

Without making these promises sound like concessions to Trump, Europe can make them and assume these responsibilities because they are desirable on their own terms. Additionally, they will give Europe influence over other aspects of the currently hostile transatlantic relationship.

In all aspects of the relationship, it will be vital to show strength. Trump’s 25 % tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe should be replaced with identical tariffs on American imports. He claims that he wants to impose what he refers to as “reciprocal tariffs.” In that situation, the EU should replace every tariff that America imposes with a similar one for a product that the US protects, of which there is a lot.

The current situation is that both America and Europe impose high levels of agricultural protection in their own unique ways, with average tariffs of 4-5 % on imported non-agricultural goods. &nbsp,

The Digital Services Act ( DSA ), the means by which the EU regulates the major online platforms like Facebook, Google, TikTok, and X, is likely to face the biggest opposition.

Elon Musk, one of the billionaires who wants Trump to use leverage over tariffs and Ukraine to compel the EU to abandon the DSA, will be the biggest beneficiary of the attack. It would be disastrous for Europe to do so. A bully like Trump only reacts with force. &nbsp, Wir Schaffen Das, Europe: we can do this.

Formerly editor-in-chief of The Economist, Bill Emmott is currently chairman of the&nbsp, Japan Society of the UK, the&nbsp, International Institute for Strategic Studies&nbsp, and the&nbsp, International Trade Institute.

On Bill Emmott’s Global View, Bill Emmott’s Substack, you can find this English translation of an article that La Stampa first published in Italian. It is republished with permission.

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John B. Calhoun’s laboratory research, conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health and summarized in 1962 in the&nbsp, Scientific American, are a&nbsp, textbook&nbsp, case &nbsp, of how to&nbsp, induce&nbsp, disastrous&nbsp, behavior&nbsp, in a given community.

Calhoun isolated animals in a sealed area, protecting them from illness and animals, and fed them. &nbsp, The rabbits bred swiftly, but Calhoun did not increase the animals ‘ living room. &nbsp, The animals became violent, devoted eating and infanticide. &nbsp, The men became possibly sexual, transgender or homosexual. &nbsp, Fertility declined and the rodent population tended toward death. &nbsp, When Calhoun introduced the several surviving animals into the “wild”, they remained heterosexual, isolated –” morally disabled” – and quickly died out. &nbsp,

&nbsp, The experiments were significant, but their lessons were applied only for cases of squeezing, be it in poultry farms or, for humans, in prisons, and shedding light on industrial violence, and affect on people rise and the environment. &nbsp,

I did not get any follow-up study noting that the “rat community” disappeared because it&nbsp, was being taken care&nbsp, of for years, without having had to make the slightest work, just adjusting to the confined area as DNA dictated.

Rats ‘ decline into obscurity was attributed in large part to their inability to expand their living spaces, but none of it was due to the fact that they were accustomed to manna from scientific heavens ( a case of an eternal-counting-on-Godot “rat welfare state” or the lethal combination of such a state with confinement. &nbsp, &nbsp,

&nbsp, Does this experiment shed light on political laboratory-type experiments with people? Although people are very good at coming up with new jargons and rationalizations, the facts suggest that is the case, in different societies, at different times. &nbsp, After all, the ability&nbsp, to invent&nbsp, words, new vocabularies, languages is a&nbsp, main distinguishing features of humans. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

In a 2008 study titled” Palestinian Refugee Camps in Lebanon as a Space of Exception,” former president of the International Sociological Association Sari Hanafi examined in-depth how the refugee camps were transformed into” a space of radicalism and a space that contributes to perpetuating the Palestinian-Israeli conflict rather than resolving it.”

He looked into why&nbsp, the violence&nbsp, erupted in the Lebanese camps, and concluded that for 60 years,” the space of the refugee camps in Lebanon was treated as an&nbsp, experimental laboratory for control and surveillance”. He attributed the dire circumstances in which these camps were located to UNRWA and Islamist organizations.

The concluding section was titled” Camps as Laboratories” .&nbsp, Indeed, the UN mandated the UNRWA camps-welfare-experiment in 1948 to last just two years and assist to resettle&nbsp, few&nbsp, hundred thousand people.

The camps still&nbsp, exist, more than 70 years later, assisting millions of descendants, all having “refugee status” and, rather than having been resettled, living in increasingly crowded camps permeated by violence and glorifying “martyrdom” – a rationalized infanticide, subsidized in this case by a “pay for kill” scheme for the surviving family.

It appears that when humans are subjected to drastic “laboratory experiments” confining them to” care” and restricted places for generations, they display symptoms of mental illness not dissimilar to those of Calhoun’s rats. &nbsp, Only humans rationalize with academic jargon.

&nbsp, The solution&nbsp, President&nbsp, Trump&nbsp, has now floated of dispersing people and expecting them to have normal lives has precedents. &nbsp, Whereas Europe after WWII had 70 million refugees roaming the continent in 1945, they were all absorbed within&nbsp, a few&nbsp, years.

Among them were some 12 million ethnic Germans expelled from Eastern and Central Europe where they lived for centuries, &nbsp, most settled between 1945-48 in what became West Germany. These immigrants “disappeared” within the de-radicalized German miracle rather than as a burden, with the Marshall Plan playing only a minuscule role as the then-German Finance Minister Ludwig Erhard radically lowering taxes, deregulating, and carrying out a currency reform in 1948. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

Societies around the world made the observation that while providing care for those who find themselves in difficult circumstances is a requirement ( and not just because people may have morals but because they are aware that desperate people can be dangerouss ), providing too much care without obligations leads to a déssolute lifestyle, even when crowding is not an issue.

Ancient sayings, confirmed now by evidence, such as” Three generations from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves” have been common around the world. &nbsp, In Japan, the saying has been” Rice paddies to rice paddies in three generations” .&nbsp, The Scottish&nbsp, said, &nbsp,” The Father buys, the son builds, the grandchild sells and his son begs”. And in China:” Wealth never survives three generations”.

A recent&nbsp, 20-year Williams Group study covering 3, 200 families&nbsp, confirmed the sayings, finding that seven out of 10 families tend to lose their fortunes by the second generation and nine out 10 by the 3rd generation.

The second generation’s over-indulgence is the culprit – as Polybius observed already in his&nbsp, Histories&nbsp, about the Ancient World, when shedding light on how not just families, but normal, prosperous societies spiral into violence and wars and die out. &nbsp,

Because the kings ‘ children develop wealth, power, and wealth, and spend a lot of money, kingdoms become corrupt. A maze of institutions built on moral and religious foundations drawing on the Ten Commandments is not antiquated by democracy to prevent such declines.

Otherwise, the new generation inherits the hard-working, disciplined ancestors ‘ riches without effort and overlooks what brought about privileged lives. &nbsp, This generation weakens the disciplining institutions and creates instead not fully thought-through new ones, generations of heavily subsidized youth in academic “laboratories” among them and, as Europe’s main political debates reveal, granting generations of&nbsp, immigrants&nbsp, instant rights to welfare. &nbsp,

In France, where this debate now dominates, the January 2025 Statista found the following: Among&nbsp, non-immigrants, the unemployment rate ( as measured by people looking for jobs ) has been in the 6.5 % range since 2015, among immigrants, it has varied between 11 and 18 percent, among descendants of&nbsp, immigrants&nbsp, it has varied between 10 and 14 percent.

Dutch researchers discovered that when the Dutch government in&nbsp, 1993 tightened significantly the eligibility for current and future claimants, it induced recipients to work and learn skills in a decent approximation of a laboratory experiment. Briefly: As recipients in welfare experiment received less care, some abandoned the” confined places” they lived in, and started normal lives. &nbsp, &nbsp,

&nbsp, As to the US and Europe: Eric Hoffer observed in the 1970s that the hippie generation, increasingly being taken care of by the state, started to behave like” the spoiled children of the rich”, living an easy life. Now, 50 years later, that’s made even easier with student debts forgiven ( even though the Supreme Court declared such forgiveness to be illegal ). &nbsp,

Hoffer attributed this to an “ordeal of affluence”, which threatened social stability, transferring wealth without requiring discipline,” creating a climate of disintegrating values with its fallout of anarchy”, as he put it.

Perhaps not “anarchy”, but spiraling into weakness when&nbsp, perceived from an even broader perspective has been the” care” the US has given to Europe, as David Goldman and Uwe Parpart note in a recent piece:

The Europeans ‘” sense of entitlement derives from their status as clients of the Washington foreign&nbsp, and security&nbsp, policy establishment, which paid billions of dollars a year through USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy&nbsp, ( NED ) and prominent private foundations to keep complaisant Europeans on the payroll”.

Europe’s younger generation took their freedoms and well-being for granted:” No one will fight and die for” Europe.”

The amorphous supranational bureaucracy in Brussels has dissipated the tax money of the various European tribes and held to be questionable accountable. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

Whereas in the US the threats Hoffer alluded appear to having been contained, and the pendulum toward common sense&nbsp, is swinging&nbsp, back, elsewhere the political experiments of being” taking care” of at various levels&nbsp, continue, potentially turning into a lethal combination. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

The article draws on Brenner’s books, History – the Human Gamble and Force of Finance, and series of articles in American Affairs and Law &amp, Liberty.

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How much of USAID’s US$ 40 billion yearly investing and the National Endowment for Democracy’s and other government agencies ‘ budgets financed the assistance of journalists around the world?

When payments to so-called generous foundations are tallied up, the virtually$ 270 million in payoffs to “independent media” in the 2025 federal funds, which is a shocking amounts in comparison to the editorial budgets of the world’s news organizations, may be a small portion of the total subsidy.

The sum total was in the billions, and the Soros mom’s Open Society Foundations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other private organizations provided the same funding.

One of the main goals of USAID money is to procure media support for the US-supported Ukraine conflict efforts. Up until the Trump management turned off the faucet earlier this month, the company managed to fund nine out of ten media sources in Ukraine.

One Soros-allied” charity”, the East-West Management Institute, received$ 278 million from the US state, according to the established site usaspending. state:

Politico, owned by Germany’s Springer Verlag, received at least$ 34 million in funding from various US government agencies, according to the federal government’s website.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ), which attempted to eliminate government waste, was able to uncover the largest covert operation in West history, surpassing earlier US intelligence operations like the Congress for Cultural Freedom from the Cold War.

However, the enemy, which cost hundreds of millions and maybe billions of dollars, was local political rivals in friendly nations rather than the Soviet Union.

And the plan was no military success, but a political and cultural change of the West itself: The so-called green agenda, variety, open borders, the removal of standard notions of gender and the ascent of globalist institutions at the expense of national sovereignty.

Few if any significant news organizations may escape the most severe problem controversy in the history of media. ” The skeletons just keep tumbling out of the closet”, tweeted Hungarian government official Zoltan Kovacs February 13, claiming$ 9 million of US Defense Department obligations to Reuters, the country’s largest news agency, for research on “large-scale social fraud” &nbsp, activities.

The payments are listed on the national government’s site, a picture is above.

How centered is the “independent” press on USAID and related money? According to Reporters Sans Frontieres, a Paris-based media freedom lobbying group, the expulsion of USAID help” throws media around the world into chaos”.

The media firm complained in a new blog that the Trump president’s freeze of USAID payments “has plunged NGOs, media outlets, and journalists doing important work into turbulent uncertainty”. RS F’s executive director Clayton Weimers added:

More than 30 countries support independent media through USAID programs, but it’s difficult to fully assess the harm the global media has caused. Many organizations are reluctant to make a statement out of concern for the potential for long-term funding or political unrest.

According to a USAID fact sheet which has since been taken offline, in 2023, the agency funded training and support for 6, 200 journalists, assisted 707 non-state news outlets, and supported 279 media-sector civil society organizations dedicated to strengthening independent media. The 2025 foreign aid budget included&nbsp,$ 268, 376, 000 allocated by Congress to support ‘ independent media and the free flow of information.

Reporters sans Frontieres added,” In Ukraine, where&nbsp, 9 out of 10* outlets rely on subsidies and USAID is the primary donor, several local media have already announced the suspension of their activities and are searching for alternative solutions”.

Other US organizations provide significant funding to international media and non-governmental organizations. The National Endowment for Democracy makes 2, 000 grants per year averaging$ 50, 000 each, or$ 100 million per year.

USAID’s covert operations targeted foreign governments who violated Washington’s war plan in Ukraine. Hungary, a NATO member, has been a vocal critic of US policy in Ukraine, and its prime minister Viktor Orban has given President Trump advice on possible compromises.

A February 12 “flash report” from Hungary’s Sovereign Protection Office states that the scale of USAID funding of anti-government media and related entities is still under investigation. Entitled” The Role of USAID in Exerting Global Political Pressure”, the report states:

The United States Agency for International Development ( USAID ) has been a component of the US government’s implementation of its national security strategy since its establishment in 1961. The organization complements the work of the secret services by using covert and overt pressure to provide grants and aid. It uses a global network, which it has already helped to set up, as a tool for this purpose. The pressure network operates by taking over the civil, economic, political and media sectors in each country”.

The Hungarian Sovereign Protection Office further stated that” an essential component of the organization of the network maintained by USAID is conceal the origin and the true extent of the resources used by the actors” by citing direct USAID funding of several prominent organizations in the political option.

The Macedonian newspaper Republika reported,” Media outlets in Macedonia are publishing reports on USAID spending in the country, on politicized, left-wing programs and media outlets”.

Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, claimed last week in a television interview that the US government has spent more than$ 3 billion in an effort to undermine his government over the past ten years.

Biden’s USAID administrator Samantha Power, a senior National Security Council official in the Obama administration, stridently defended the agency in a February 6 New York Times op-ed. ” U. S. A. I. D. has become America’s superpower in a world defined by threats that cross borders and amid growing strategic competition”, Power said, accusing her critics of doing the bidding of” Moscow and Beijing”.

Former USAID officials have established numerous foundations that serve as buffers for the organization’s goals. Jeanne Bourgault is currently in charge of Internews Network, which she founded after two stints with USAID in Moscow and Kosovo. Internews received$ 418 million from USAID, according to the usaspending. gov website, “whose mission is to empower local media and the free flow of information worldwide”, in the foundation’s self-description.

According to medium.com,” This funding has enabled the NGO to establish a sprawling global footprint, working with 4, 291 media outlets, producing 4, 799 hours of broadcasts in a single year and training over 9, 000 journalists — all under the banner of promoting press freedom. However, critics claim that these initiatives are merely an extension of US foreign policy and shape narratives to fit Western geopolitical interests. Bourgault is paid$ 491, 000 a year.

In addition to putting pressure on advertisers to withhold funding from media outlets that report breaking news, USAID opposes Bourgault’s plan. We must collaborate with the global advertising sector because a lot of money goes to producing pretty bad content, she said at the World Economic Forum in Davos last year. And so you can work really hard on inclusion lists and exclusion lists, and really try to concentrate on ad dollars and challenge the global advertising industry to concentrate on the good news and information everywhere.

Liberal billionaires, meanwhile, subsidize major media directly. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated$ 5, 437, 294 to Germany’s Der Spiegel, the country’s top left-wing news outlet.

MintPress reported in 2021,” The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ( BMGF ) has made over$ 300 million worth of donations to fund media projects. Recipients of this cash include many of America’s most important news outlets, including&nbsp, CNN, &nbsp, NBC, NPR, &nbsp, PBS, and The Atlantic”.

” Gates also sponsors a myriad of influential foreign organizations, including the&nbsp, BBC, &nbsp, The Guardian, &nbsp, The Financial Times, and The Daily Telegraph&nbsp, in the United Kingdom, prominent European newspapers such as&nbsp, Le Monde&nbsp, ( France ), &nbsp, Der Spiegel&nbsp, ( Germany ) and&nbsp, El País&nbsp, ( Spain ), as well as big global broadcasters like&nbsp, Al-Jazeera”, the MintPress report said.

Asia Times was unable to independently verify the nature or scope of the” sponsorship” given to each individual media outlet.

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The US$$ 2 trillion F-35 stealth jet fighter program, which is plagued by delays, software glitches, and cybersecurity flaws, is expected to face criticism when the Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ), under the leadership of Elon Musk, launches an investigation into the Pentagon’s books. &nbsp,

Actually before his Depends investigators have begun, Musk has called the essential protection program a “flop” and its creators “idiots.” At least one US Air Force head disputes that Musk is overestimating the use of robots to remove fighter planes in true warfighting.

To be sure, Musk’s accusations have significance. A declassified February 2024 assessment by the US Director of Operational Test and Evaluation ( DOT&amp, E) revealed that the F-35 program faces significant challenges despite its promise of tech-driven, cutting-edge capabilities.

According to the publicly accessible evaluation review, the F-35’s so-called” Block 4″ growth and functional testing has identified several pressing problems that have hindered the project’s performance and suitability.

For one, the Continuous Capability Development and Delivery ( C2D2 ) process, which was intended to provide incremental Block 4 capabilities every six months, has not met expectations, leading to significant delays, according to the report.

The Tech Refresh 3 ( TR-3 ) avionics upgrade aims to provide enough computing power for Block 4 capabilities, including new sensor suites, long-range weapons, electronic warfare, data fusion and cross-platform interoperability.

However, the TR-3 program version 30R08 remains inadequate after over two years of development, with deficits introduced into recently delivered features.

Due to insufficient modeling and simulation solutions, the evolutionary process relies heavily on a fly-fix-fly method, which has exacerbated difficulties. Those failures mean dedicated functional testing of TR-3 upgraded F-35s does not occur until 2026, two decades after TR-3 was immediately delivered.

Unresolved vulnerabilities have been found in the updated software versions of the Autonomic Logistics Information System ( ALIS), while the transition to a new cloud-based Operational Data Integrated Network ( ODIN ) has not yet resolved many persistent issues.

ODIN’s components deployment has increased in speed, but it still runs on ALIS software, putting off the anticipated advantages of intermodal applications and regular updates.

Maintenance standards for all F-35 variants are still below the Joint Strike Fighter ( JSF ) Operational Requirements Document ( ORD ) thresholds, with critical failures requiring twice the anticipated repair time. Reliability measures, such as Mean Flight Hours Between Essential Problems, are constantly below specifications.

Operational supply prices for the F-35 ships are even below target, as a result of high maintenance requirements and spare parts shortages. At a time when China is tremendously upgrading its air ships, these problems have delayed full-rate creation and hampered the plane’s eagerness for battle scenarios.

These issues may reveal Musk’s pre-emptive censure of the F-35, including the billionaire tech baron’s chastising of its designers, lambasting its architecture, and questioning of its cunning capabilities and power compared to drones.

But, US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall argues that Musk’s perception is that of an expert, not a interceptor, saying that his perception of helicopter superiority is nevertheless many years ahead.

Kendall claims that his goal with the F-35 is to work with drones in tandem, but it won’t be replaced in the near future. He insists that the F-35 will remain in service until the Next Generation Air Dominance ( NGAD ) platform is operational, which is in every way superior to the fourth-generation fighter jet.

Considering the F-35’s myriad issues, Musk isn’t off the mark in his critiques. A US Congressional Research Service ( CRS ) report from December 2024 reveals that C2D2’s software modifications frequently caused stability issues and other system functions to be hampered.

Further, in a May 2024 Air &amp, Space Forces Magazine article, John Tirpak says that F-35 pilots rebooted the TR-3 program multiple times in the air and on the ground during tests.

According to Tirpak, even if the TR-3 upgrade is fully approved, an F-35 Joint Program Office ( JPO ) spokesperson mentions that frequent patches and updates may still be needed to correct deficiencies.

In a November 2024 Project for Government Oversight ( POGO ) article, Greg William points out ALIS shortcomings. The software, supposed to be the backbone of F-35 maintenance, has shown poor reliability and high false alarm rates due to new aircraft hardware or software updates, impeding rather than facilitating maintenance.

In an article for Global Defense Technology, Grant Turnbull discusses ALIS ‘ vulnerability to cyberattack. Turnbull claims that the system’s widespread interconnectivity and reliance on data sharing across various nodes presents numerous entry points for hackers, putting them at risk.

Turnbull mentions that successful cyberattacks could disrupt maintenance schedules by preventing crucial software updates or parts orders, effectively grounding aircraft. Additionally, he points out that malware could inject false information into ALIS, causing an unnecessary grounding of serviceable aircraft.

He points out that ALIS’s complexity, compounded by single points of failure, such as Central Points of Entry ( CPE ) and the Autonomous Logistics Operating Unit ( ALOU), further exacerbates the vulnerability. Additionally, he states that cyber adversaries could potentially extract critical performance data, compromising operational security.

Compounding the F-35’s software woes, a September 2023 US Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) report mentions that the aircraft suffers from multiple maintenance issues, such as overreliance on contractors limiting government influence and decision-making ability, inadequate training for F-35 maintenance, lack of access to technical data, deprioritized funding for maintenance facilities, and lack of spare parts.

The F-35’s operational readiness rates have also plummeted. A January 2024 DOT&amp, E report mentions that the F-35 fleet’s average availability stood at 51 %, far below the 65 % target.

The Full Mission Capable ( FMC) rate was only 30 % across the US fleet and 9 % for the operational test fleet, the report said. Combat-coded aircraft fared better, achieving 61 % availability and 48 % FMC, though are still short of expectations.

Critical reliability and maintainability standards are also unsatisfied, particularly for the F-35C, which failed to meet any ORD ( operational requirements ) thresholds.

The F-35A and F-35B met some reliability goals, but they experienced noticeably longer corrective maintenance intervals that were over 278 %. Rising Not Mission Capable for Supply ( NMC-S) rates at 27 % indicate worsening logistics. These issues are further complicated by persistent software instability and engine parts shortages.

Despite improvements in maintenance and supply chains, the F-35’s ability to meet operational demands is undermined by these readiness gaps, according to the report, which call for immediate remediation.

In an article this month, Military Watch mentions that China’s J-20 stealth fighter has more stable software integrated into its development and that its progressing without any signs of any issues.

However, China’s military modernization is opaque compared to ^the US, so such matters may not be made public. The F-22 and F-35 may be ^the only aircraft in ^the world ^that can match China’s growing fleet of 5^th-generation steal^th aircraft in a conflict in ^the Taiwan Strait or Sou^th China Sea, but ^the effects may be significant.

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