So back on the other side of the pond, we've got the continued debate of whether the F-35 is worth the capital sink as part of the already costly weapons program. Plenty of decent arguments from both sides and I've followed the debate largely due to being a sucker for Top Gun (great movie btw!)
What I have found is that its more a procurement scandal than a scandal over the capabilities of the aircraft. It'd been 23 yrs under development before full-scale production.
As for the aircraft, the only valid claim against it is its comparative short range for a naval aircraft. Otherwise, while the F-22 can outfly it and out-perform it in almost every aspect of flight, the F-35 shoots down the F-22 before the F-22 pilot even knows one is around.
What's most important about the F-35 is how it links within an expanded "kill chain" the likes of which neither Russia nor China have. The heart of that system is the Aegis (Shield of Zeus) radar system, which is like calling today's computers comparable to a Commodore 64, but that's still its name. The system first linked all the CICs of a task force together, and then their radars. It has now expanded to where it links all aircraft, ships, and has even integrated with Army field artillery. The F-35 is the apex raptor within that scenario.
It can penetrate airspace while yet unseen and then target ships, planes, or ground installations for weapons systems hundreds or thousands of miles away. Were that F-35 somehow then engaged in a dogfight, it's already transmitted the situational data to the rest of its flight squadron, the ship it launched from, and its task force, and the pilot can quite literally have the missiles from other planes shoot down his attacker at his command, from hundreds of miles away.
The Israelis already love it, and why not? They've already flown it over Syria, undetected by anyone, and downtown Tehran for all we know, and from that advanced position could then fire land artillery as we it their own plane's missiles, which keeps any attention from being drawn to the F-35 itself.
The F-35 sees a hypersonic missile going by it, headed for its carrier hundreds of miles away, and that information is already being fed into the guidance systems of missiles on a Burke-class destroyer which will shoot it down. And that's just the public version of how it works. The F-35 is this apex raptor no one even knows is there, while it directs its brood on how to destroy the enemy. Otherwise, it's not such-a-much.
Personally, I'm sold. The pertinent question is therefore..
Where can I place my order?