Former USAF. Agree with the other comments about treaty obligations, personally I think the F35 is a prime example of insane, out of control project management

Former USAF. Agree with the other comments about treaty obligations, personally I think the F35 is a prime example of insane, out of control project management that has become quite common in US aerospace development. All that being said, the F35 does serve a role that others can't fill. When people think about fighters, generally two planes locked in a dogfight come to mind. This is a 20th century way of thinking about air superiority. Take the F22 as an example, it's well loved by both USAF pilots and the public, and is considered by many to be the most capable fighter in the world, yet in low speed maneuvers it can be taken down by a 4th gen jet that was designed in the 70s and costs a fraction of what the F22 does[0]. In a real combat situation, the older jet would never even see the F22 - that's it's real power, it's weapons and sensor platform are what make it the arguably best in the world. The F35 can do a little bit of everything, but it's primary selling point is that it's essentially a flying digital weapons platform that can be adapted to any role - piloted or remote, wireless drone hub, recon, communications, sensor and targeting relay and so on. The general idea is that an F35 goes forward into the battle and projects the force of an air wing or carrier group with it's advanced communications and sensor package, all while being a capable fighter on its own. [0]https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/yes-france-shot-down-american-f-22-stealth-fighter-164488 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/yes-france-shot-dow...