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26+ Years in air traffic control tower in the USAF and 5+ years in the FAA have taught me to DESPISE the F-35 !
All it is, is a well politicized aircraft, with parts made in every state, so congress rodents could sell it to their constituents !
Ask the pilots who had to fly those nightmares while they were being developed.
I was at March AFB when the first few porpoised into the ground on final at Edwards, because they were aerodynamically UNSTABLE.
I was around during the trials between the FY-35 and the FY-22 .
The Fy-22 beat it in EVERY Category.
That one engined DISASTER, the F-35, should have NEVER been funded !

If you got 26+ years of active duty as an air traffic controller seems you should know the designators of the test aircraft are YF-22 and YF-35.

Also you should know it was the YF-22 that is famous for the oscillations in the youtube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faB5bIdksi8

You should also know that the F-16 did that first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAp4RtGKbHE

So far, the F-35 hasn't done that.

So...what exactly was your AFSC???

Sorry. Every quote that I have read from pilots actually having flown the F-35 has been positive. You & I can be skeptical of the airplane but we should keep the criticism on-point.

All combat jets with an A2A mission have been designed to be aerodynamically unstable for the last 40 years. That’s why we have computer (fly-by-wire) controls.

The A-10 is a fine aircraft, but it has problems in contested airspace. 6 of 27 aircraft lost in the Gulf War were A-10’s. We also lost five Marine AV-8B Harriers which have a similar mission. Counterbalancing those stats we have to recognize that the A-10’s sortie rate was much higher than other aircraft types and several came back pretty badly shot up... but they did bring their pilots back.

I was around during the trials between the FY-35 and the FY-22. The Fy-22 beat it in EVERY Category.

Not to defend the F-35, I believe you have a few things mixed up.

First off the Lockheed YF-22 (not FY-22) was flown against the Northrop YF-23 for the ATF competition in 1990. It was a close competition. The YF-22 was more maneuverable and was able to demonstrate missile launching capability. The YF-23 was faster and stealthier. In 1991, the YF-22 was selected and went into production as the F-22.

Second, the Lockheed X-35 (not FY-35) was flown against the Boeing X-32A and X-32B for the JSF competition in 2000. It was NOT a close competition. Boeing needed two demonstrators to compete as they were unable to transition from STVOL configuration to supersonic configuration in flight as the X-35 was capable of doing. The X-32 also had hydraulic leaks and lost power during hovering due to exhaust gasses getting sucked into the intake. In 2001, the X-35 was selected and went into production as the F-35.

Personally, I'd rather see continued F-22 production with a navalized version and a separate less costly AV-8 replacement program instead of the F-35A/B/C.