Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon say the F-35’s superiority over its rivals lies in its ability to remain undetected, giving it “first look, first shot, first kill.”

Hugh Harkins, a highly respected author on military combat aircraft, called that claim “a marketing and publicity gimmick” in his book on Russia’s Sukhoi Su-35S, a potential opponent of the F-35. He also wrote, “In real terms an aircraft in the class of the F-35 cannot compete with the Su-35S for out and out performance such as speed, climb, altitude, and maneuverability.”

Other critics have been even harsher. Pierre Sprey, a cofounding member of the so-called “fighter mafia” at the Pentagon and a co-designer of the F-16, calls the F-35 an “inherently a terrible airplane” that is the product of “an exceptionally dumb piece of Air Force PR spin.” He has said the F-35 would likely lose a close-in combat encounter to a well-flown MiG-21, a 1950s Soviet fighter design.

Robert Dorr, an Air Force veteran, career diplomat and military air combat historian, wrote in his book “Air Power Abandoned,” “The F-35 demonstrates repeatedly that it can’t live up to promises made for it. … It’s that bad.”

The development of the F-35 has been a mess by any measurement. There are numerous reasons, but they all come back to what F-35 critics would call the jet's original sin: the Pentagon's attempt to make a one-size-fits-all warplane, a Joint Strike Fighter.

History is littered with illustrations of multi-mission aircraft that never quite measured up. Take Germany's WWII Junkers Ju-88, or the 1970s Panavia Tornado, or even the original F/A-18. Today the Hornet is a mainstay of the American military, but when it debuted it lacked the range and payload of the A-7 Corsair and acceleration and climb performance of the F-4 Phantom it was meant to replace.

Yeah, the F/A-18 was trash when it first came out and it took YEARS and multiple changes/fixes to allow it to fully outperform the decades old aircraft it was designed to beat when it was released.

The F35 is not the best at anything it does, it is designed to fully be mediocre at all roles in order to allow it to be a single solution aircraft. That may change with more money, time, and data retrieved from hours spent in actual combat, but as it stands it is what it was designed to be. A jack of all trades and master of none, not something I would want to be flying in a role where I could encounter a master of that role.

As @ChaosEngine says, it is far beyond time that we move to a design where the pilot is not in the plane. There is no reason at this time that we cannot field a plane that could successfully perform it's role with the pilot in a secure location nearby. Such planes could be built cheaper, could perform in g-forces that humans cannot withstand, and would be expendable in a way that current planes are not. However, this would mean that our corporate welfare system for huge defense contractors would take a massive hit. We can't have that, can we?

Your video, Golden Retriever Licks Window Trying to Eat Pizza, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

This achievement has earned you your "Pop Star" Level 196 Badge!

You live in FL?

I live in FL. My work requires me to wear a tie and dress jacket.

I get a lot free time but I have a short leash. I am on call 24 hrs. a day, 6 days a week.

Sometimes my job requires me to walk in the heat or rain to retrieve a dead body out of the woods or an open field or out on the Interstate.

All I know is, no matter the conditions here, it's better than Jersey.

For anyone wondering...

YT desc : Minivan owner says, "A bear opened the door to our unlocked van. I unwittingly closed him in, then went back a while later to retrieve something from the car, I realized a bear was inside. After the automatic doors failed to open, my husband had to unlock it with the key. The bear found another way out. We’re alive – our van, not so much!"

Your video, Golden Retriever puppy vs arch nemesis, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Damn, someone hire this man.

I think I saw the old woman who stole my triangle near the beginning, anybody have Robert Smith's phone number? I need his help retrieving it.

Footage retrieved later from a CCTV installed in the car wash showed more of the footage not seen on the cell phone video.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Sift of the week and a good PSA, stay in your car at animal parks, unless it's like a, you know, golden retriever puppy animal park.

I'd go there.

And that's fine in an emergency situation. Well, it's not fine, but it's acceptable.

I'd like to think they'd make an effort to retrieve it while testing or demonstrating though.

1. Maybe:

"Operations can again proceed after the chain or wire has been retrieved from the seabed."

Presumably the anchor is impractical to retrieve and just becomes new seabed.

I also don't get this "dogs were domesticated by humans, cats domesticated themselves" bullshit. Dogs were domesticated the exact same way as cats, the only difference is we discovered cats are only useful for rodent control, as hunters. Dogs could be hunters (terriers), hunter-helpers (pointers, retrievers), protectors and herd control (shepards, collies), beasts of burden (Rottweilers), etc. Of course we spent more time working with dogs. They had useful abilities already. Cats are much like rats, racoons and other animals that thrive in the presence of humanity. They're just at the top of their respective food chain, like we are.

Ha!
Yeah...if I was more creative and less lazy, I would put together a newt in a Dutch boy paint outfit or something.
What I use is my sweet (now deceased) golden retriever/lab puppy getting blown back by my neighbor's huge dog's hurricane bark.
Maybe someday I'll get off my ass and change it.

Funny enough, my sister in law had that reaction (without calling for fire, but with screaming, flailing, and backwards skittering crab walk of terror) to my adorable golden retriever puppy years ago. That was something.