re: #320 thedopefishlives

The F-35 is a plane without a mission. The B-52 and the A-10 were designed for a specific role, and thus, they perform that role excellently. The F-35 is an attempt at a “jack-of-all-trades” aircraft, but the problem with a jack of all trades is that it is the master of none. We’d have been better off designing a new A-series attack aircraft, ordering more F-22s for air superiority, and sticking with the Super Hornet for the Navy. With the savings, perhaps we could’ve replaced the B-52 with a respectable long-range strategic bomber.

So much of the problem with the F-35 is the requirement to fulfill the Marine jumpjet role. To do so meant saddling the fighter variants with a fuselage that is mostly empty space without the lift fan, transfer box, and assorted support equipment. If you’d left the Air Force and Navy to their own devices, they would have produced a sleeker design with less superfluous crap. But instead we get this whale that is trying desperately to convince everybody that it’s a shark.