Every problem faced by the F-35 are blown way out of proportion. The F-35 is the best fighter/attack aircraft flying today. All one needs do is read what the pilots say about it and their lives depend upon the F-35 being the best. Also, I’m all the Red Flag exercises the F-35 has flown several 1 vs 6 against F-15’s, F-16’s, F-18’s, Euro aircraft etc...etc .. and in those engagements the F-35 is allowed to use it’s full sensor, combat and stealth suite of capabilities, it has never been beaten. The 6 aggressors are always shot down before those pilots even know they’ve been targeted. The F-35 has many capabilities that no other combat aircraft in the world possesses. So much of what is written about the F-35 is disinformation, much of the time written by people who were part of the competing program which lost the competition and they’re still very upset by that, thus they hype way out of proportion the problems.
.......your post is certainly appreciated...however, this is just a snippet of an article appearing on a technical web site that I am sure has no affiliation with any of the F-35”s competing airframes...this article appeared just this past February...it’s another point of view
....The US Air Force Quietly Admits the F-35 Is a Failure
By Joel Hruska on February 25, 2021 at 8:38 am
The Air Force has announced a new study into the tactical aviation requirements of future aircraft, dubbed TacAir. In the process of doing so, Air Force chief of staff General Charles Q. Brown finally admitted what’s been obvious for years: The F-35 program has failed to achieve its goals. There is, at this point, little reason to believe it will ever succeed.
According to Brown, the USAF doesn’t just need the NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) fighter, a sixth-generation aircraft — it also needs a new, “5th-generation minus / 4.5th-generation aircraft.” Brown acknowledged some recent issues with the F-35 and suggested one potential solution was to fly the plane less often.
“I want to moderate how much we’re using those aircraft,” the general said. “You don’t drive your Ferrari to work every day, you only drive it on Sundays. This is our high end, we want to make sure we don’t use it all for the low-end fight… We don’t want to burn up capability now and wish we had it later.”
Great.