Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
I'm sure you've heard the term 'too big to fail'.
There is no way the F-35 is not going to be put into service. It could cost us 10 times the original estimate (it might!) and it will still happen.They can't turn back. They can't make more F-22's either. They are committed to the F-35 program as much of a mess as it is.
The real problem is that no lessons will be learned from it. They know what the problems were/are but the F-35 program is now the new normal, the low bar to hit. Everyone is complaining but it will happen again.
Couldn't have said it better myself. People don't understand that the f-22 has its fair share of issues and how much did development cost for that program? And for what? The US has a fleet of less than 200 if I could guess and that's about it. At least In this case there are customers lined up for the f-35 including UK, Israel, turkey, Japan, etc.
The f-35 WILL replace much of the inventory we have today one way or another they will make it work. I have faith it will be one of the best stealth air superiority fighters out there. Sure it will be way over budget but we are helping fund American companies that are manufacturing a huge portion of the components going into the f-35.