According to the history of the development: The original F-35 was designed to meet Marine Corps demands for a supersonic, short takeoff/vertical landin

According to the history of the development: The original F-35 was designed to meet Marine Corps demands for a supersonic, short takeoff/vertical landing plane. That vertical landing requirement dictated an extremely wide, 50-inch fan blowing straight down for lift and sucking air through a huge intake door on top of the fuselage directly behind the pilot. That, in turn, led to an unusually fat fuselage that is so high it completely obstructs the rear of the canopy. Subsequently, when the Air Force and the Navy were enticed into joining the F-35 program — supposedly to benefit from the “savings” of a large 2,500 unit tri-service buy (savings that quickly turned into huge cost overruns) — they both had to accept the fat fuselage and lack of rearward visibility of the Marine Corps version. [1.] So, perhaps it meets their specifications and use cases, but not the other organizations'. Source: [1.] https://medium.com/war-is-boring/everything-wrong-with-the-f-35-3b62e8b3b432 https://medium.com/war-is-boring/everything-wrong-with-the-f... [2.] Many HN submissions with discussions: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=f-35&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=f-35&sort=byPopularity&prefix&...