Trump: “F-47 will be obsolete in five years” (Spoiler alert: It won’t be!)
March 23, 2025
“Hello everybody. So we had a big day. We gave out the world’s greatest fighter jet by far, they say. I think, in terms of every criteria known to man, it’s the best. Now, that doesn’t mean in five years it’ll be good. It’ll be totally obsolete in five years, I guess, but that’s the way it works. But there’s never been a plane designed or made like this, and we’ll have them within about a two year period, they’re going to start manufacturing very soon. So we’re honored by that.”
Seasoned observers of the defence scene in the US detected something of a pattern, in which the President frequently mis-speaks, or shows an incomplete understanding when he strays from prepared remarks. His speech during the Oval Office briefing was littered with confused and erroneous statements, and showed a complete lack of understanding of the fighter generation concept, and of normal measurements of performance. He also made the baffling claim that: “There’s no other nation with a better plane, I’ve seen every one of them, and it’s not even close.”
One journalist on X asked: “Why doesn’t anyone ensure that Trump is well-briefed enough to avoid obvious howlers that make him look stupid, America look ridiculous, and the Air Force lacking in credibility?”
Seasoned analyst and respected authority on US stealth combat air programmes, Bill Sweetman, answered, suggesting that this was: “Because briefing Trump is like trying to serve soup in a colander.”
