Quote Originally Posted by Ridge View Post
The F-35 isn't meant to be a fighter. It's an attack plane, supposed to replace the F/A-18, AV-8B and theoretically the A-10. The F-22 is the Air Superiority bird (and they cut production of them at 187 in favor of the F35; 187 is not nearly enough to phase out the F15).

Besides, the F-35 has a gun. It just doesn't have the software to use it!
The jack of all trades and master of none really applies to this thing. It is a multi-role strike fighter that doesn't do too much as well as the various aircraft it replaces; the most ridiculous being the replacement for the A-10. It really is ridiculous that the armed services plan to consolidate their operations on this aircraft platform.