Are they really? How do you know? They haven’t been tested very well yet. It’s WAY too early to declare it yet. Many tweaks will likely follow the first combat uses.
All through American history people have declared our weapons to be “POS” at first... New technologies many times start out “flawed.” Only later does it become clear one way or the other. Many of our new weapons were often criticized in WWII and Vietnam only to prove their worth in combat later. Many people decried the B2 Spirit bomber as a “boondoggle.” Now it’s regarded as a major piece of American military power.
There are numerous source articles on FR detailing exactly how terrible the F-35 has turned out to be - all goes way beyond ‘teething problems’ associated with new mil tech such as you referenced.
For what the fixes cost - for the most basic of problems this plane suffers from - they may as well just start over. The more complex ones are in a category of their own and likely simply cannot be fix short of a total redesign.
I know very well... To say they haven’t been tested very well yet is way off the mark. They’ve been in test for 11 years and are failing miserably. They are extremely costly to fly per flight our and sustainment cost is asinine.
They started off the production line in 2006, 11 years later they’re still a mess and DoD is just dumping money to fix the massive amount of problems. It’s the most expensive weapon system in DOD’s history, and that sustainment costs is the majority of DOD’s $1.3 trillion cost estimate. If that’s the DoD estimate you can multiply that by 3 to get a more accurate figure.
Read the history, it fails to meet it’s objectives and requirements constantly so they change the requirements to what it can meet.