Great, Switzerland is about to buy 36 of these and are being hoodwinked into thinking they are getting them at a bargain price. Somehow the F35 went from the most expensive compared to its previous generation competitors to the cheapest. There are accounting shenanigans going on here.
The importance of redundancy and backup alternatives in any major project:<p>"It is worth remembering too, of course, that the F-35 enterprise almost had an alternative engine to the F135. However, the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 turbofan was deemed to be an unnecessary expense and was eventually canceled in 2011, when the project was over 80 percent complete. With the benefit of hindsight, it can well be imagined that an alternative source of engines would be very valuable right now."
More and more i am convinced the United State military would be completely incapable of handling a prolonged conflict with a peer enemy. Of course an actual peer enemy conflict would almost certainly escalate to a nuclear war if either side thought they were about to lose.