PeaceQuest
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Donate
  • Email Us: sstaples@peacequest.ca
  • For teachers: WarandChildren.com
  • Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
PeaceQuest
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Blog
  • About Us
    • Welcome
  • Donate Now

    Scholarship fund studious poor children

    Notice: Test mode is enabled. While in test mode no live donations are processed.

    $
    Select Payment Method
    Personal Info

    Donation Total: $10

Bizarre: Former F-35 test pilot uses conspiracy theories to attack stealth fighter critics

Homepage Commentary Bizarre: Former F-35 test pilot uses conspiracy theories to attack stealth fighter critics
Commentary

Bizarre: Former F-35 test pilot uses conspiracy theories to attack stealth fighter critics

22 April 2022
By PeaceQuest
0 Comment
506 Views

Canada’s most important National Defence reporter, David Pugliese, writes in the Ottawa Citizen that the public relations war over the F-35 stealth fighter jet is entering a new phase.

This weekend peace activists will be gathering in Ottawa for what is being called the Global Mobilization to Stop Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the F-35.

Pugliese notes that in the lead-up to the proposed $19-billion deal, there have been dueling narratives on social media and in mainstream news outlets.

“Social activist groups have held webcasts to drive home their contention the F-35 will be a money pit for taxpayers,” says Puugliese. “They have cited concerns by U.S. lawmakers, including those from March 2021 when Adam Smith, head of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, called for the F-35 program to be shut down. The aircraft “doesn’t work particularly well” and is too expensive to maintain, he noted. ‘I want to stop throwing money down that particular rathole,’ Smith said.”

In the lead-up to the proposed $19-billion deal, there have been dueling narratives on social media and in mainstream news outlets

DAVID PUGLIESE

The pro-stealth fighter lobby and the Liberal government are using the prospect of job-creation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine to justify the controversial choice of the F-35 – a plane Justin Trudeau said he’d never buy.

And in a bizarre twist, Pugliese says a pilot-turned-pitchman is using conspiracy theories to promote the F-35. “Former Lockheed Martin test pilot Billie Flynn…who left the firm in October 2020, promotes Lockheed corporate talking points mixed with conspiracy-fuelled rhetoric,” says Pugliese.

Flynn has accused reporters critical of the F-35 of being “turncoats” and “bought-off” by Boeing, Lockheed Martin’s competitor. He’s also alleged a former Liberal MP is “in bed” with Boeing but has provided no proof.

Former F-35 test pilot and Lockheed Martin pitchman Billie Flynn

(Image: https://mobile.twitter.com/billieflynn)

  • Read “Analysis: Public relations war over the F-35 stealth fighter jet enters new phase” by David Pugliese published on April 21, 2022 by the Ottawa Citizen.

(Cover: CLEVELAND, OHIO / USA – September 1, 2019: A United States Air Force F-35 Lightning II performs a demo at the 2019 Cleveland Airshow. Via Shutterstock)

Tags: military spending

Previous Story
Are Putin’s nuclear threats really unprecedented? Or just a logical extension of war?
Next Story
Invitation to a special conversation with Holocaust survivor Elly Gotz

Related Articles

Liberal government presents a contradictory military budget for 2022

Let’s take a look at the big $8-billion boost

Crisis in Ukraine is a boon for U.S. weapons producers

The Canadian military has apparently exhausted its stockpile of anti-tank...

Leave your comment Cancel Reply

(will not be shared)

Categories

  • Action
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Event
  • PeaceQuest Cape Breton
  • PeaceQuest Kingston
  • PeaceQuest Regina
  • Resource
  • Teachers

Contact

PeaceQuest Leadership and Education Initiative

c/o Steven Staples, Chairperson

225 Sumach Street W303

Toronto  ON M5A 0P8

Email: sstaples@peacequest.ca

Phone: m. 647-327-7187

PeaceQuest Info

  • Projects
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

Local Groups

  • Cape Breton
  • Kingston
  • Regina

 

 

Teachers

  • WarandChildren.com
Copyright ©2020 PeaceQuest Leadership and Education Initiative
SearchPostsLogin
Friday, 13, May
Canada may be drawn into missile defence pact with U.S.
Thursday, 12, May
Could the Falklands War have gone nuclear?
Wednesday, 11, May
Former Pentagon chief warns of nuclear catastrophe
Friday, 6, May
It’s chilling how close we are to nuclear war in Ukraine
Friday, 6, May
Hear voices for peace in Russia
Tuesday, 3, May
Can we build “common security” as an alternative to war?

Welcome back,