You’re right. The F-35 is not a total failure. It’s succeeded at making a lot of people rich.
It meets the requirements the Airforce, Navy and Marines gave the contractors. Blame the military if you don’t like it. They do. No one ever claimed it would kill tanks better than an A-10. They just claimed it would kill them as well as we need in this modern era. I disagree, but that does not mean the plane has a problem. It is all in how they define the requirements. Contracts build what they are told or they don’t get paid.