I take your point Engines, and you may well prove to be correct. As you know, my view is different but I'm quite happy to acknowledge that BAe's proclamations might not live-up to practical development! We'll just have to wait and see I guess.
Tourist, you make yourself sound incredibly stupid when the only reasoned argument you can offer is to whine about whether someone happens to be a member of the Navy, the military, an engineering trade or whatever. The point that an awful lot of people never seem to grasp is that the JSF saga has to be looked at in a much wider sense. It's completely pointless to dwell upon what a Navy pundit might think appropriate or what a particular engineer might think is the best solution. The Government is obliged to look at a much wider picture, not least in terms of the political fallout and the amount of money being spent. Surely you must be able to grasp that it's really not about technical performance figures?