[PIF]

Guess you guys are missing the point - there are major problems with this plane; it may never go into full production. I can assure you that the Chinese would love the tech, but never place the plane in the PLAAF failing so many critical tests.

[cranked]

So what you are saying is that the services that use the F-35 actually bought a high-priced POS? Great.

[Zhang Fei]

[I can assure you that the Chinese would love the tech, but never place the plane in the PLAAF failing so many critical tests.]

---

They’d love this plane for living up to original mission specs. The Chinese way is get something out quickly, then MacGyver new requirements as needed. The (peacetime) American way is to let new requirements be injected every step of the way, to the point that development slows down to a crawl, like ornaments hanging off a Christmas tree, whereupon the project is canceled, and the old platform is MacGyvered to learn new tricks that never quite match the promise of the built from scratch new platform that was scuppered. What will cure us of this malady? The likely avenue is to get kicked in the nuts through a Pearl Harbor-style attack by a peer/near-peer competitor. Then we’ll get back to the basics that had us churning out simultaneously half-assed but revolutionary and good enough new platforms the way we did during WWII at a war-winning pace.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

There is the argument that better is the enemy of good enough. The decision should not be based on abstract paper requirements, but a hard-headed evaluation of alternatives. Will the F-35 be likely to provide a cost-effective deterrent, or would the funds be better spent elsewhere?

[epluribus_2]

It is not a disadvantage for our adversaries to believe that the F-35 is plagued by problems and underperformed most of its expectations. Some of our most effective and proven appeared to carry some stigma about performance and reliability throughout their life cycles daring enemies to underestimate them. F-111, Tomcat,F4, FA18, A10, too heavy, slow, weak, limited, vulnerable, complicated, etc. Probably most did and scored low on some tests until fixed/finished. All admirably served their missions very well.

But all were far over cost. Expected. (Did not mention F15 and F16 - not much to complain about. Fly by wire did take some adjusting to.