I have given up trying to find anyone who thinks STOVL JSF is a good idea, so have gone back to trying to find Elvis.
If you had the choice of a tonne or two of anything to put in an aircraft it would be a toss up between fuel and bombs, not a f###ing lift fan. If you want to operate from austere places go ahead, but given that the CV variant can go alot further, why not buy that one and overfly the austere place on the way to the fight.
In fact, given that the only possible reason for buying STOVL is to keep Rolls Royce happy, why not buy one less aeroplane and give the savings to Rolls Royce to shut the f##k up?
It's the last manned fighter...our last chance to put all those procurement ghosts to bed, and here we are f##king it up royally. Hand me the red wine!!