US Air Force legend General Chuck Yeager weighs in on the F-22 and the F-35

Chuck Yeager
Chuck Yeager

(US Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, retired, preparing to board an F-15D Eagle from the 65th Aggressor Squadron in 2012 at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.DVIDSHUB)

You may know that Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager of the US Air Force holds the distinction of being the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound, is one of the force's most prolific test pilots, and is perhaps the greatest military pilot of all time — but did you know he's very active on Twitter?

The legendary general recently weighed in on the $1 trillion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Here's what he said:

chuck yeager twitter
chuck yeager twitter

(Chuck Yeager)

"Waste of money."

This is a far cry from the current Air Force brass' ringing endorsement of the "game-changing" aircraft. But with the aircraft costing about $100 million each, and with the highest price tag ever associated with developing a weapons system, perhaps Yeager thinks the money would be better spent on training pilots and maintaining a more traditional Air Force.

So I thought to ask him what he thought about restarting the F-22, the world's first fifth-generation aircraft. While the F-22 costs are also very high, it functions a bit more like a traditional fighter jet than the multirole F-35, which I thought maybe Yeager would appreciate. So what did he think?

chuck yeager twitter
chuck yeager twitter

(Chuck Yeagar)

So there you have it. According to perhaps the greatest living military pilot, the entire fifth generation of US Air Force jets are a waste of money.

Better luck next time.

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