This reminds me of the mid 80’s 60 min. expose of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. They pronounced it underpowered, under armored, flammable, immobile and impotent.
The Bradley developed to be Fast, Mobile, and the main Gun lethal beyond expectation actually penetrating the turret ring of T-55 tanks at 1000 meters.
It was claimed as too expensive, excessive waste, not performing in some areas..........
33 years and a 104:0 kill ratio later, with a projected life out too 2025 and serving highly capably in rolls never originally conceived, this plane did kinda turn out to be anything but the waste CBS reported about decades ago.