the jet is completely badass, and the squadron bar is epic. Every day I saw multiple divisions of JSF in the overhead at my home base, STOVL ops and all.....
And for J. Petrovic's post above....I would be interested to laugh at your reasoning why you are not a fan of the JSF. I'm sure your 3.52 GPA in Natural Science would keep you well informed.
While an opinion piece, I think this article pretty accurately sums up the list of flaws with the F-35 itself, the program as a whole, and the logic for the entire fiasco. While the author places significant blame for many of the F-35's limitations on the Marine Corps' obsession with VTOL/STOVL, it is a valid argument.
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/fd...th-the-worlds-worst-new-warplane-5c95d45f86a5
Too little power, too much drag area, too little maneuverability, too little payload, etc. I wonder if future military planners will look back and laugh at the naiveté of trying to create a one-size-fits-all solution that relies entirely on the supposition of untested, supposedly superior high technology, and then force it on all our services and those of our allies.