draken,
Not quite sure what you mean by 'one of the few things about the F-35 that does (work), at least at present!'. Have you been working on a different program from the one I have? What is it that isn't working about the airplane at present? Last time I flew it, the radar was jaw-droppingly good and a plenty good enough reason to buy the airplane in itself. EOTS was very nice, the EW system was just obscenely sensitive and Pax are bashing out 20+ vertical landings a month so that a VL is considered almost routine now.
Have you priced up an F-18E recently, including engines and all the toys + 15% tax for an FMS purchase? Not very cheap after all are they? And then you're introducing another aircraft type after the RAF very carefully decided very recently that it didn't want more than 2 fast jet types... Would that be 'prudent' in the manner of Gordon Brown's spending plans from the last 8 years?
Regards,
Single Seat, Single Engine, The Only Way To Fly!