I don’t know about anyone else, but if situational awareness like this for a manned aircraft is that expensive, why couldn’t a higher performing aircraft be made as cheaply and linked to a remote control station?
Cheap doesn’t ring a bell when talking about the F-35.
Much less expensive and drone driven rather than manned. Makes sense to me. No man could withstand the G forces capable of being generated by an unmanned aircraft with even greater capabilities than the F-35. Who needs stealth when you can “swarm” and kill. We already have the tactics and the pilots we just need the numbers.