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F-35 research, development & maintenance employ a lot of people and move science forward.

Employing people to produce a plane that does not function as intended is a good use of money? It seems like there might be superior alternatives available.

Can you point out any specific ways in which the F-35 project actually moved science forward, even indirectly?

Identifying underseas airplane crashes obviously

The employment and “moving science forward” are certainly not commensurate with the money pit that is F35.

How many JWST-scale projects could be funded with that money?

170 is the answer. 170 JWSTs.

For more fun facts, JWST has employed 1200 people in the world, F-35 has produced around 250,000 jobs.

So F-35 has produced more jobs per dollar than JWST so from that perspective it is a steal

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