The $1.5 Trillion War Machine

It’s the most expensive publicly funded program in the history of the world.

In fact, even after accounting for inflation, this single endeavor will cost the United States just over one-third of the total cost of the Second World War.

When all is said and done, it will have cost American taxpayers about $1.5 trillion.

There’s really no way of overestimating or even imagining the sum of manpower, time, and materials this project will take to bring to completion.

And here it is:

What you’re looking at may appear to be just another stylistically challenged modern jet (I’ve always preferred the classic lines of the F-14 and F-15 to any of today’s fighters), but it is the new F-35 Lightning.

At $200 million apiece and growing, the Pentagon now estimates that once all 2,457 aircraft are delivered (coming in three variations for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines), the total price tag will come to $1.58 trillion…

Or roughly the GDP of Australia.

Now, this cost does come over decades, but nevertheless, it’s just one program of many required to support our national defense interests.

So how can the Department of Defense justify such massive spending? Well, pretty simply actually.

Standardization is the Name of the Game 

The F-35 is designed to replace four aging aircraft types, spanning the spectrum from the high-speed, air-superiority F-16 all the way down to the low and slow tank-killer: the venerable A-10 Warthog.

This standardization across the three major branches of the armed forces will theoretically cut costs and save time in both production and maintenance.

Although the three variants of the F-35 have some striking differences — the biggest one being the Marine vertical takeoff-capable variant, which replaces the Harrier Jump Jet, compared to the conventional takeoff variations of the Navy and Air Force — the planes all share 80% of their components, allowing for a far more seamless and streamlined production process.

And just what do you get for $200 million?

Well, first you get speed and agility — that’s a given, but that’s also de-emphasized these days, too.

You also get the ability to stealthily deliver a wide (and expanding) array of deadly tools, from old-school 20mm rounds to smart bombs to satellite-killing missiles to nuclear weapons.

But that’s also all a given.

A Flying Super iPhone… With Missiles

The F-35’s main weapon is its ability to gather, process, and share data.

In case this sounds like a familiar set of characteristics, it’s because all technology, including many of the devices you have in your house or car, is measured by those standards today.

Anything that can collect data and deliver it to the user in an efficient, intuitive manner has value — lots of it.

And in those terms, the F-35 certainly comes far closer to justifying a $200 million/unit price tag than any piece of technology in history, civilian or military.

Here are just some of the features that turn this supersonic killing machine into a flying supercomputer…

The Helmet

This device, which itself runs a somewhat mind-blowing $400,000, makes its pilot look like a member of an invading alien force.

Its display system provides pilots with unprecedented situational awareness by showing all key data — such as airspeed, heading, altitude, targeting info, and warnings — directly on the visor.

This allows for unmatched situational awareness, as well as quicker response time and more intuitive flying.

Coolest of all, however, is that this helmet creates a composite image of the airspace around the airplane using six cameras mounted on the aircraft’s exterior.

The composite image allows the pilot to see everything he needs to by taking the interior of the cockpit out of the equation.

The cockpit, as well as any of the plane’s exterior features, becomes transparent — a bit like Wonder Woman’s invisible plane, only better because it still looks cool from the outside.

In short, no more blind spots.

Almost as an afterthought, the helmet provides pilots with night vision through the use of an integrated camera.

Electronic Warfare

Advanced electronic warfare capabilities enable the F-35 to locate and track enemy forces, jam radio frequencies, and disrupt attacks with unparalleled precision.

All three variants of the F-35 carry active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radars with sophisticated electronic attack capabilities, including false targets, network attack, advanced jamming, and algorithm-packed data streams.

This system allows the F-35 to reach well-defended targets and suppress enemy radars that threaten the F-35.

While the F-35 is capable of stand-off jamming for other aircraft — providing 10 times the effective radiated power of any fourth-generation fighter — F-35s can also operate in closer proximity to the threat to provide jamming power far exceeding any other single-seat aircraft in service today.

Sensor Fusion

As with many modern devices popular with today’s consumer, the true test of salability and practicality is the fusion of existing functions and features to create new, synergized, multi-function systems.

In this regard, the F-35 is revolutionary.

Its advanced sensor fusion enables pilots to draw on information from all of their sensors to create a single integrated picture of the battlefield.

All of the information gathered is then automatically shared with other pilots on their network using the most modern data links. These data links, such as the Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL), will enable pilots to share data with other strike aircraft as well as other airborne, surface-, and ground-based platforms required to perform assigned missions.

On the battlefield, effective, real-time communication means the difference between life and death.

Nothing that came before the F-35 comes close to this level of sophistication.

Distributed Aperture System (DAS)

Developed by Northrop Grumman, the DAS is the only 360-degree, spherical situational awareness system ever installed in a production aircraft, and it is the camera array that feeds the seamless composite image of the plane’s exterior through the helmet.

With the ability to detect and track approaching aircraft from any angle, the DAS also greatly reduces the potential for mid-air collisions and virtually eliminates surprises.

The DAS is also completely integrated with other sensors within the aircraft, so if the F-35′s radar detects something of interest, DAS’s software will closely analyze it and make the pilot aware of potential threats.

When there are multiple threats, the DAS is able to identify the highest-value targets and recommend the order in which to deal with each threat in microseconds — saving the pilot valuable time in making split-second decisions.

Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS)

EOTS is the world’s first and only sensor that combines forward-looking infrared (FLIR) and infrared search and track (IRST) functionality.

The high-performance, lightweight, multi-function system enhances F-35 pilots’ situational awareness and provides precision air-to-air and air-to-surface targeting capabilities. 

Communications, Navigation and Identification Avionics System (CNI)

CNI is the most advanced integrated avionics system ever engineered.

The integrated CNI is developed by Northrop Grumman and provides F-35 pilots with the capability of 27 avionics functions.

The CNI allows for simultaneous operation of multiple critical functions, such as identification of friend or foe, precision navigation, and various voice and data communications, while greatly reducing size, weight, and power demands.

Put this all together in an aircraft with the radar cross-section of a tennis ball, and the end result is a revolution in both aircraft design and air-superiority tactics.

Once this machine is fielded, anybody operating a lesser alternative will be left playing catch-up — or, in more hostile situations, most likely blown out of the sky.

There is, however, one deadly shortcoming that the designers of the F-35 simply could not get around — even with a $1.5 trillion project price tag.

You see, the F-35 requires a very special kind of material for all of its 21st century supercomputers.

It’s a material that’s found in minute quantities in just about every piece of consumer technology you have in your home — including the device you’re using to view this article.

But the F-35 is no laptop, and each one requires no less than half a ton of this rare kind of metal to operate.

Without this metal, none of the F-35’s sensors, computers, or subsystems would function, effectively rendering it a $200 million paperweight. 

And that’s one eventuality the DoD didn’t do a very good job of planning for.

You see, even as the F-35 moves into full-scale production and a whole new generation of pilots is trained to use its advanced systems, the U.S. has lost its capacity to produce any more of this metal.

Meanwhile, another nation — one that’s seen more and more as a rival these days — bought up more than 95% of the world’s reserves and production capacity of this crucial industrial metal.

That nation, shockingly, is China… And the problem this is causing for the world’s biggest consumer of this metal — our own government — grows daily.

Never Mind Oil… This May Be the Most Important Resource of the 21st Century

It’s a problem that may soon become a crisis… but there also may be an answer on the horizon.

You probably haven’t heard about this issue in the news. It was virtually an unknown situation to the average person on the street up until 60 Minutes did a special edition on the topic just a few weeks ago.

Now that the cat is out of the bag and people are getting nervous, it’s time to find a solution.

This material shortage could be the single biggest obstacle faced by the Department of Defense today — but there may just be a light at the end of the tunnel.

The story of this vital industrial raw material and just how dependent we are on it might make more of an impression that the F-35 itself.

But what’s even more interesting is that a surprise upstart company may have just found the world’s single biggest deposit of it — and you better believe our government is more than a little interested in it.

To get the full version of this story, along with all the specifics and what it may mean to you, click here.

To your wealth,

Brian Hicks

Brian is a founding member and President of Angel Publishing and investment director for the income and dividend newsletter The Wealth Advisory. He writes about general investment strategies for Tech Investing Daily, Wealth Daily and Energy & Capital. Known as the “original bull on America,” Brian is also the author of the 2008 book, Profit from the Peak: The End of Oil and the Greatest Investment Event of the Century. In addition to writing about the economy, investments and politics, Brian is also a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox and countless radio shows. For more on Brian, take a look at his editor’s page.