Salute!
Well,
ORAC. big deal.
Not sure about your experience making intercepts at 1.3M or above, and ditto for combat experience. Profile is lacking on those details.
Unlike the Raptor spec that needed "supercruise", the Stubbie needed to have some supersonic capability, but not its primary A2A requirement.
I, too, was surprised about some of the complaints
the F-35 jet can only fly at supersonic speeds for short bursts of time before there is a risk of structural damage and loss of stealth capability, a problem that may make it impossible for the Navy’s F-35C to conduct supersonic intercepts.
That was in 2011!
Both deficiencies were first observed in late 2011 following flutter tests where the F-35B and F-35C both flew at speeds of Mach 1.3 and Mach 1.4.
Think newer RAM and such might be used now? And I have not seen one reference to "structural" damage.
Unlike the early Hornets, where areo forces on the twin tails caused actual damage. McAir had closed the slots on the LEX of the YF-17, and that resulted in increased buffet and forces on the vertical tails.
There are many who wish to keep the old and faithful birds around that they like or personally have not flown a combat mission in the last 30 years, or even ever.... I think of McCain and his support of the Warthog. Now we have the Hornet mafia. USAF loves its Vipers, but this new jet has all they want and more - ask a few.
The Stubbie can do its missions very well, even beyond what was expected. More misisons than the Raptor or the Rafale or the Tiffie or the brand "x" from some other places. It was never intended to zoom out at the speed of stink and shoot down some enema planes way up in the stratosphere.
I would take the testimomny of those that have flown it and also have flown the Gen 4 planes. Combat experience would be nice, but we haven't had the "luxury" that some of us had back in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Those of us back then had the chance to fly "cold war" iron, then the early computer jets, and then stealth machines.
The F-35 is doing well, considering its complexity ( something I balked about, and that still concerns me), but it looks to be a game changer in the actual arena.
Gums opines...