Aside from keeping the Lockheed assembly line open (a worthy cause) and keeping in mind all the "golly gosh gee whiz" stuff; why do we need a stealth(y) air superiority fighter designed to fight the Soviets in Europe?
When are we going to see a modern CAP aircraft, designed for the missions we need to fly today?
How about China.
There, fixed it for you.
Russian, Chinese and Iranian type threats are more dangerous today than then vs. the Soviet Union. The antiair and anti missile system S300 & 400 as well as flanker fleets in these places were superior to our current inventory of aircrafts, in pure a/c vs. a/c comparison. The Indians beat us up in exercises using assymetrics.
This airplane is way overdue. Meanwhile the US Navy is still behind in terms of technology vs. the French Rafale (which is being exported tentatively to places like Saudi Arabia) and would have trouble (were it not for a superior radar and aegis system) against Indian Navy Flankers. So we still have holes to plug, which we hope the JSF will do, though it's a single engine inferior in thrust to weight to the Rafale and Indian Flankers.