My learned friend Mr Boffin is right as usual, except Plan B is "Never get into this position again".
Gen Dempsey's comments, translated: the F-35B is no more. It has ceased to be. It has expired and gone to meet its maker. It is a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible. It is an ex-jump-jet.
Not sure, though, that anyone at the upper levels of Gormenghast-on-the-Potomac realizes that, as the B goes, so goes the C. I know people look at the C's range and go "maybe all we need is the C" but it is heavier than the A (empty) by the mass of a large SUV, it has an OEW similar to an F-15E (including the CFTs) with far less power, and the only reason its range does not inhale asinine gonads is that there is JP-5 in the space where the A packs the gun and ammo.
You think that the Super Hornet "International Roadmap" version is aimed only at Japan and Kuwait? Pull the Marine guards off the C and watch what happens next.