[Mariner]

"Why would we want to do such a horrible thing to Israel?"

Don't believe all you read on the F-35.

It's an extraordinarily capable platform, if not a traditional acrobatic fighter.

Heck, with the Air-to-air capabilities we are developing, one day we may wish we bought 400 747-400 "fighters".

Of note: once this platform is in the field in good numbers, you will see the add on capabilities emerge.

Control of semi-autonomous "adjunct" aircraft. The linking of two different groups to a single battle solution.

200 mile range missiles.

And this is the public stuff.

[DiogenesLamp]

Don't believe all you read on the F-35.

It's an extraordinarily capable platform, if not a traditional acrobatic fighter.

With an increasingly incapable price. So far everything i've read indicates that the smarter move would have been to just ramp up production of F-22s.

I think fighters are becoming obsolete anyways. You can drastically improve the cost and capabilities of air combat systems by getting rid of the pilot.

I think we will see more and more advanced drones replacing fighters, and eventually we will only have a few manned fighters in our arsenal. The rest will be remote jockey sticks.