Reference News website reported on May 20 that the National Interest bimonthly website published an article on May 18 titled "F-55 Fighter: The Trump Administration Is Investing Big Money in a Bad Investment", written by Brandon Vetcher. The full text is excerpted as follows: "The F-35 fighter, we are conducting upgrades... I will call it the F-55 fighter, this will be a major upgrade, but it will have two engines because the F-35 only has one engine. I don't like single-engine." During his whirlwind visit to the Middle East, President Donald Trump made this statement in Doha, Qatar. Before making this remark, Trump had casually mentioned that the United States was preparing to invest an additional $1 trillion on top of its already massive defense budget. In fact, President Trump is squandering hard-earned tax money. To make matters worse, the 47th president also wants to upgrade the F-22 Raptor fighter. Supporters of the F-35 fighter upgrade plan say that using two engines instead of one will increase the fighter's speed, lift, performance, payload capacity, and altitude. These are valuable capabilities in today's increasingly competitive combat space. However, unless these new engines enable the F-35 to reach hypersonic speeds - which is impossible - the upgraded F-35 will still be vulnerable to advanced enemy anti-access/area-denial systems. More importantly, upgrading such a complex aircraft is not "simple". Adding another engine to the F-35 will increase the already excessively high and unsustainable costs of the F-35 program. Maintaining and fully supporting the upgraded system will burden the military. Trump's proposed redesign will lead to an increase in the aircraft's weight, requiring extensive other modifications to maintain flight. President Trump pointed out that the twin-engine F-35 fighter would provide the military with additional safety guarantees, which is correct. However, this is not a simple upgrade. It requires a comprehensive redesign. And at a time when the U.S. government has already wasted a lot of money building the sixth-generation fighter F-47, this redesign will be extremely expensive for the entire force. Financing large-scale adjustments to the F-35 now will not only hinder the progress of the F-47 project, but also further exacerbate serious declines in readiness. Frankly speaking, the era of manned aircraft has ended. As the century progresses, drones will gradually replace manned aircraft. This trend has been demonstrated in the air conflicts in Ukraine. So why are Trump and his defense staff so determined to defend the investment in the poor fighter projects? These fighters' performance is only slightly better than those that can be destroyed by existing anti-access/area-denial systems. The aforementioned drones are not fictional. Some of America's best innovative talents are working on this. Ultimately, the U.S. Department of Defense can build countless difficult-to-track, difficult-to-destroy drones at a fraction of the cost of the F-47 or so-called F-55 fighter projects, suppress enemy air defense systems, and annihilate enemy targets. Stop talking about this magical weapon. It's time for the United States to seriously focus on building appropriate military forces for the next great war. Currently, the Pentagon is not only defeated by the enemy's weapons, but also by its own overweening fantasies - and public anger over its wasteful spending of tax money. (Translated by Zheng Guoyi) Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7506398676680704531/ Disclaimer: The article expresses the author's personal views. Please express your opinions in the buttons below.