re: #86 Dread Pirate Ron

That story has been pushed all week on many sites. Usually these stories are pushed by Boeing employees. I’d take a F-35 over a F-16 in any fight. The first sign a F-16 would have that a F-35 is around is when his aircraft explodes. If you look at the price of the F-15X, the F-35A is cheaper. The US is not going to build a stealth jet cheaply, even their non-stealth jets are getting up there in price as they add better electronics integration and sensors. If you follow the Red Flag war games you’ll see how superior the F-35 is in combat. I have faith in them working the bugs out.

They’ve been “working the bugs out” for damn near a decade now. Delaminating canopies, performance limits dictated by the skin material, software issues that result in 20% of commands not going through, these are not the sort of bugs you expect in an aircraft that’s been officially put into service.

We’ve been told again and again for years now that when this bird finally gets all the kinks worked out, it’s going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread and all those who criticized it will look foolish for ever doubting it. There’s a term for such things: Money pits.