So this is how Lockheed Martin is going to sell the most expensive weapons system devised by mankind. Turns out it’s the same strategy as Girl Scouts Incorporated’s cookie division: Use kids!

I would have expected a taller band.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has been dogged by high costs and engineering troubles recently that have put its future in jeopardy, presumably these videos (there are many but this is the only one with kids) are an effort to salvage its reputation. The fighter remains a lynchpin of future U.S. naval and air strategy.

Wick Allison observes,

One thing the lyrics don’t mention: with cost overruns, maintenance costs, and assorted other expenses, the disaster known as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is expected to run to $1 trillion. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney wants to increase defense spending to 4 percent of GNP. So maybe we can get the costs to run even higher.

h/t Wick Allison via Spencer Ackerman