Surrounded by fuel. Sheila macvicars investigation into the f35 thank you for joining us. Im when. We begin with a saga of the f35, the most expensive Weapons Programme in u. S. History. A pentagon report raises questions about performing in combat. Prompting many to ask is it worth the 1. 4 trillion price tag. The Defense Department says yes, with no more vigorous defender than the machines, set to declare its use in summer. Others say it is premature. Reporter what does it mean if the marine corp declares i. O. C. In 2015 . Its a sham. Thats what it means. Tom christy is a high ranking pentagon official. He was the Senior Advisor for the secretary of defense for the testing of weapons, the sham is a decision by the marine core to declare its version of the fighter plain ready for combat or i. O. C. The programme has been embarrassing and they are at the get. Do you think the plane is combat ready . Absolutely not. That is years away in my book. The f35 is the most expensive Weapons Programme history, with a price tag of 1. 4 troilion. Its one of most problematic, beset by safety, reliabilitiy and performance, ever since the first f35 rolleded off the assembly line. They are producing what 40, 50 planes of the year. Thats fullscale production, thats a tragedy. God knows what well do to fix the aircraft. Nonetheless, the pentagon plans marines. Assessment by the pentagons own assessment, the office christy identified, showed up some problems with the f35, some so severe they could is flight critical lets look at why the pile. Reporter pierre once evaluated planes for the department of defense. He was part of a team designing the f16 1970s. The f35. We asked about the document. It says life fire test and evaluation confirmed structure. What does that many. They implemented tests where they took pieces of the air plane, they found it was bad, as you expect. Reporter they catch fire, burn and explode, because theres too much flammable stuff located in the organization. Thing of it as a blow torch surrounded by fuel. Behind safety. The f35 is crippled by floors, limiting its utility in combat. Problems stepping from the design of the marine corp. The idea was the air plane rise and land vertically. The marines want a jump jet to accompany troops on the front line. The air is so hot. You cant land on the concrete. It will explode the concrete. On. You need special high temperatures ceramictype concrete. And the whole excuse is you need it vertical take off so you get close to the troops. According to the spray it creates another problem. Necessitating a fan in the planes mid section. All the other services put up with that. It agility. To go superspoonic, you have to be long and slender. It cant be, sitting here is a great big fan blowing straight down, across the fuselage. Its huge. Pick. All versions share the same basic frame, the performance of the air force versions are affected too. The truth of the matter is acceleration. Reporter in this memo leaked days ago and obtained by america tonight. The test fighter writes about a mock fighter, pitting an f35 against an older f16. The exercise was meant to test high angles of attack with the manoeuvring hard. According to the f35. It had an energy disadvantage for every engagement. In other words, and couldnt clim or turn fast enough to kill or evade the f16. It was alt an arrow dynamic disadvantage, weighed down by two 70 gallon fuel tanks. The f35 was flying clean. The pilot goes on to say the manoeuvrability substantially inferior to the f15 e. Another ageing but proven force. Its heavy, it creates a lot of wing area to create risks, to return the corners that the feet and enemy attack, putting you in a winning position. This is like a rock when it comes to moving. When went so far is to describe it as unique. That went so far as to say it did not disel the story, it was not equipped with software, stealth coding or weapons. The f35 is designed to kill enemies from long distances, not in visual dog fighting situations. This is not the first time the pentagon declared the aerial dog fight dead. In the 1950s, the kill from affair with the f 4 phantom. After staggering losses of pilots and plans in the dog fights with North Vietnam een, the u. S. Reversed course, going on to establish the top gun school. The air force bank in nevada is one place. This general is the highest ranking officer to qualify. The air force is delighted to declare this item, ready for combass. The f35 facing impediment. It grounded the fleet for weeks. It remains optimistic. There incidents we are working operations. Is it likely that as you expand the envelope, you find for issues. Its because of what we do, we have time to get that initial capability. Im not worried today that well get through the 16. As for the marine core. It recently completed trials, include, landics, take you have. Air strikes and maintenance. The marines deemed them a success. Its not just the former members that are skeptical. The military plan to buy 40, said the plane pay be one of the biggest white elements history. America tonight Sheila Macvicar is with us. Before the aircraft is deployed. How could this be. How can it get down the track. As they produce the plane, as they work on the plane, they are testing and making refinements. Every time they find a problem, as we see. They have to go back and change the other planes. This is a complex process. One of the reasons why this happens, is this plane has a huge economic footprohibit. 44 states. Plus a lot of work outside international partners. Theres a lot of incentive to keep it rolling off. There is an argument, those that favour the art. What is to that. Theres people who are clear, including those that fly it that are strong supporters, that believe that the air plane, when it gets to real operational capacity, it will deliver new generation capacity to the u. S. Military, that it has design features that are novel, taking it above. Theres a problem. Theyll be expensive to work out. If they can, this should be next generation war fighter. It may be a long way down the road. As we go down the road and discover problems with the plane, and more will be discovered as the plane is turned further and further, then there are more expenses associated with fixing it. The argument could be made that it is a live testing process. We are beta testing the aircraft, and you should expect to find problems. The problem is at the same time as they are finding problems, they continue to make 40 or 50 a year. The other part, that is supposing to help with the price, the canadian italian, all that have a piece of the pie. Some indicate they are not so willing to invest in the games because of the lifetime cost of the programs, soaring beyond what anyone caught they would be. This is coming expensive america tonights Sheila Macvicar losing his brother but picking up the cause. One year after the crash of mh17, herming and honouring also lunar loot, who gets to collect and hot a fill dellifias mum whose sun struggled with addiction, goes to the streets my heart is racing so fast. Standing at a crossroads. My parents have their plan. Im gonna do what god asks me to do before what they ask me to do. Can a family come together . Do you think that you can try and accept me for me . Life changing moments. My future is in my hands right now. From oscar winning director alex gibney. A Ground Breaking look at the real issues facing American Teens on the iran nuclear deal. Every pathway to a Nuclear Weapon is cut off. For more depth. The narrative has shifted here in tehran. Iranians want the sanctions ended. More perspective. Every iranian will be happy. Iran cannot be trusted. More insight. Iran is actually trying to build trust with the international community. And more understanding. Stay with al jazeera america. Tell me what you and your generation think is gonna to happen. A tragic air anniversary marked this week. A year ago, Malaysia Airlines flight 17 crashed over ukraine after take you have from dean ambrose. Amsterdam. All lost their lives, among them a leading aid activist. America tonight spoke to his brother about keeping pims legacy alive. Reporter paul last chatted with his brother pim on the day, the day before he boarded flight 17. As an h. I. V. Lobbyist, the 32yearold was headed to an a. I. D. S. Conference in australia, and was the world traveller, as an advocate for democracy. This is video of him in turkey. He worked on democracy projects in egypt. Sierra leone, and malasia, and spent time in ukraine. He was there, on behalf of the ministry of Foreign Affairs and european union, and believed that this country, like others in the world, would be better if you have democratic processes that worked. Paul said if his brother was still alive he would be talking about a peaceful resolution to the conflict. My brother, in this situation, he would ask everyone to think about the next steps. Before we know it, we see the situation deteriorate. It will not bring back my brother or peace to my family or the people of ukraine. Reporter pims death, in a country where he worked to bring about a fresh start is it not a firm move, dialogue is more effective than force. Its helping hill. The real phase of morning is yet to start. From america tonight, lori jane gliha. Paul and friends of his brother put together a foundation a fitting memorial, a year after his death. Next, a price of moon as well. Bliing if from souvenirs in space. I was told by a reliable source, if you came up with 10 grand, my whole suit would be on my porch. T for 10,000 american. The apollo astronauts helped america win the space race, what they brought back helped to fuel an artefact race. After his death, we learnt that Neil Armstrong kept a stash of souvenirs. The first man on the moon didnt sell his, other astronauts and his family tried to, which adam may found led to earthy interventions. One. We have a lift off. Reporter apollo astronauts won the space race, beating the soviets to the moon, and captivated the world. They were heroes with the fright sauf, bringing home moon rock and mementos, souvenirs of historic journeys. Sold, 37,500. Nearly half a sennurery later, space artefacts are worth a small fortune. With some its selling for dens, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sold, 50,000. Robert is a founder and editor of space. Com. What is the most valuable . If you are a pecking order that threw to the mon, and if you go and orbit. Did it land on the mon. Was it on the surface . That is the most valuable. That is was it tained with moon tuft. A checklist, they could flip the pages and see what they were doing. You can see every photo of them walking on the moon. Every one coated in moon tuft. This has, until recent had been, been left up in the air. The astronaut put what he used. The space station september in. No charges were made against dr ich yell. Mitchell turned over the camera, used to shoot this film to the smithsonian. Apollo astronauts pushed back saying this was an informal agreement allowing them to hang on to their souvenirs, and h41 was signed into law, allowing apollo astronauts to keep and cash in on its they brought home. Like a flag, and a personal preference kid belonging to buzz ald ren, and this flown to the surface and signed by gene, the last man to walk on the moon. Now, space is the most popular collectible. Bob auctions off space mementos. We solved the tough checklist by dave scott. Thats what he used to drive the lunar rover. This is a rocket override. Its almost 400,000, and rotation. Welcome to the International Space station. Im brighton anderson. You the law only benefitted vast row naughts, and didnt do anything. Astronauts like clayton anderson. Yes, this handrail. You look on the suspect. You see a gold handrail. Not that one. Module. Anderson said he had to get special permission to keep the discarded handrail from the International Space station. With a stuff near from the lucky. I war my Russian Space suit in place. I asked if i could have my gloves. They are custom wade for my hand. They are sewn on the sleeve of the blub. I was denied. Now . Could be at a flea market in moscow, could be used as training cloves, i have no idea. I was told by reliable sources if you came up with 10 grand, whole suit would end up on the porch. I was told for 10,000 american suit be on your porch. Reporter then there are torch ris. Neil armstrong is an iconic picture. Hes basically a modern day christopher colombus. Reporter neil is a collector of armstrong autographs, and is an expert on signatures and forgeries. A signed n. A. S. A. Picture is worth 4500. Thats a forgery on the left. Flag. Forgeries are around simply because its a quick dollar. One lucrative stash of moon loot landed in court. Lunar bibles printed on microfilm. They were preinduced, a group in or around the community who wanted to express support for the space program. They flew on apollo 13, and it was houston, we have a problem. Came back to earth. Out. They went to the moon. There was rumours they were out on the surface of the moon. They were packed in the personal preference kick. He brought them back to earth. The founder of the league, job stout is in his 90s, living in this engineering home. This collection of lunar bibles is the disappear of a custody battle. Author, carol, who wrote a book, has 14 lunar bibles, and the city of texas wants them back to pay for sauts care. Gifts. The two sides are in mediation. The stakes are high, lunar bibles sold at auction 50,000. Flights to the mon may be over the price of souvenirs remains in orbit. Thats america tonight. Tell us what you think. Talk to us on twitter or facebook, and come back. Well have more of america tonight tomorrow. Government committees. Theyre spending money, theyre not saving it. Costing millions and getting nothing. Its a bogus sham. America tonight investigates. Money for nothing. Theyve gotten away with it for years