"How many Navy's operate a Harrier at the moment and How many are upgrading to F-35B? 2/5 of bugger all Apart from the RN - who wanted the C model anyway!!!"
I tend to agree - although I'm sure it was the USMC requirement that drove the B version - LM wouldn't build a VSTOL for the RN
THE big mistake IMHO was confusing the "conventional long range (cough cough), supersonic, stealthy strike fighter." with a bomb truck to support littoral campaigns. But history is littered with "we can save money by getting this aircraft to do all these other tasks"