Are we charging too little for F35 jet fighters? How about a tariff on THOSE things to help with the federal budget?

Photo above - cancel red alert! A scale model F35 jet fighter prepares to take off from an undisclosed back yard location. Saudi Arabia just bought dozens of the real thing.

Welcome to the club, Saudi Arabia! You will soon have a squadron of the worlds most advanced, 5th generation fighters. As soon as they roll off the assembly line. Demand is “off the charts”, as companies like Nvidia would say.

The Saudi’s plan to buy 48 of our front line F35 jets. Prince MBQ was no doubt gob smacked earlier this year when Israel used it’s own American supplied F35’s to attack Iran with impunity. Evidently F35's are quite hard to detect or shoot down. Iran pretended it shot down 2 of them, but satellite photos shows Israel has all present and accounted for. When the Saudi's have their own F35s they won't need to lure dissidents to embassies to be assassinated. Just call in an air strike.

Each F35 lists for $100 million. That’s the base model, without full self-driving or 8 quadrillion watt fast DC charging. Prices for deluxe platinum edition F35s can reach $130 million. It’s not clear which trim level Saudi Arabia is buying, or at what price. The 75 Israeli F35s have a LOT of 3rd party aftermarket accessories which aren’t supplied the original manufacturer. Stuff like long range fuel tanks, external weapons pods, and million-dollar helmets with Nvidia AI chips so awesome that you'll never need to look at the cockpit gauges.

We’re clearly not charging enough for these things. In addition to sworn enemies like Israel and Saudi Arabia who are now vying for total air superiority, F35s have already been delivered to, or are pending for:

Australia

Belgium

Canada

Czech Republic

Denmark

Finland

Great Britain

Italy

Japan

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Romania

Singapore

South Korea

Switzerland

If I’ve left any countries off this list, my apologies.

As you can see at a glance, NATO has all but encircled Mad Vlad Putin with F35 fighters. Even though these jets seldom come out to play, Vlad is certain to find this an awkward situation. No wonder he doesn’t want Ukraine or ANY other nations joining NATO. If all the F35 owner/operators launched their squadrons at once, World War 3 would be over in about 15 minutes. No matter how many internet cables Russia cuts with some rusty scow dragging its anchor with all their lights turned off.

Back to the economics. Stop cutting one-off, special deals with nations depending on whether they are ruled by Sheiks, Kings, Presidents, Generals, Prime Ministers, or Crown Princes. Let’s set a standard prix fee menu, both for the entrée and the hors d'oeuvres. Cost plus. Use the F35 surcharge/tariff to pay our own soldiers on time, if there’s ever a shutdown again.

If we’re the most powerful nation on earth, then we should darn well act like it.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

World Map Shows Where US Has Sold F-35 Fighter Jets - Newsweek

From $1 trillion spending to F-35s, U.S.-Saudi pledges aren't done deals yet