[Tallguy]

Overweight and underpowered: at 49,500 lb (22,450kg) air-to-air take-off weight with an engine rated at 42,000 lb of thrust...

... perhaps you missed the part that I put in bold font. The quoted takeoff weight if for practically 'clean' configuration, not a bomb-laden strike mission with a lot of external stores. Like I said before, this is troubling...

I should look up which version of the F-35 weight they are quoting. I know that they are frantically working on reducing the weight of the F-35B -- the STOVL version. It stands to reason that that plane will be heavier & less of a performer than the "A" (USAF) or "C" (USN, CTOL) versions. The "C" has a broader wing, too, so wing loading numbers would be different.

[DesertRhino]

good point,,especially ref the STOVL variant,,
That’s just got to be heavier.