>>27747783That was only part the problem. The problem is that the Marines suck at procurement of equipment and have aircraft at the moment (older C model Hornets, AV-8 Harriers that are unflyable POS) that are literally falling out of the sky.
Hence, they're cutting corners on the F-35 and jumping straight to IOC instead of going through IOT&E first.
Even the Navy and Air Force don't really want to run this aircraft through its paces because Block-2B software is hilariously unworkable for practical deployment.
Also no fighter program is worth 400 billion dollars. Period. They're expecting this plane to last 40 years of service, and its already behind on software/firmware because that's what the Pentagon does best.
The plane probably would have to go through several different hardware upgrades as we go along, mainly to address all the very sensitive cooling issues this plane has (hint: its electronics tend to get very hot).
They Navy's model is probably the best since it doesn't have those fucking stubby little wings. I genuinely wonder if they can even upgrade it without completely replacing its power plant.
