ICBM
However, I am in complete agreement with A.Y who obviously knows his proverbial ****; the F-35 sensor suite in many, many ways is significantly upgraded from F-22, is better than Growler and the potential of its DL for data-passing air picture AND 'surpic' amongst not just other F-35 but also the surface fleet and CAOC is a step beyond.
All that is true , and apart from any other aspect, the sensorsuite and sensorfusion is the single most important aspect about the F35, even more so than its (limited) stealth abilities.
Which brings me to the next question, will it all work as promised ?
Looking at the state the software is in and the problems with the helmet, which is the central vital piece in this sensor package, there still are many legitimate worries about the endresult ,and even worse, the difficulties of upgrading it later on.
Hence the comparison with the earlier Vigilante, which always suffered from unreliable immature systems which where way too complex to maintain and upgrade.
More specifically talking about the helmet it remains to be seen how far the modifications will bring it to the necessary, workeable specs.
The jitters it suffers from are very likely the easiest to solve and the problems with its nighttime performance are also probably solvable in the near future but the latency issues are really more than just a simple engineering challenge.
This is not some slow speed or low resolution system like used before but a system that is supposed to give very high resolution @ realtime speed that uses these capabilities to support the pilots situational awareness without the extra aid of a HUD.
The time lagging is going to be a real nightmare to solve to make it useable in a high speed fighter which needs the high resolution sensorfused (seemsless) imaging to make full use of its weaponscapabilities.
Anything less or a system(helmet) that compromises too much to make it workeable will pretty much negate the benefits given from all these other fine sensors, the no-HUD desicion might have been a penywise but pound foolish one.
Also very interesting to notice is that, when they talk about the helmet issues and subsequent solutions they (think they)found for it, they only talk about the jitters-issue, for the 2 other problems there is no solution in the foreseeable future (glad to stand corrected on that one but I haven't seen it up until today).
All this leads to a fighter that is now soo late that some aftermarket of the shelf technology will be more or less as good, or even better than the F35 systems by the time it reaches IOC, pretty much negating its main selling point and advantage over other fighters.
and more news about why it is all so expensive acc to LM
Lockheed says more orders key to cutting F-35 cost - chicagotribune.com
example
Lockheed Chief Executive Bob Stevens said the company was "fully dedicated" to lowering the cost of the F-35, but told Reuters that it was not clear that Lockheed could meet the Pentagon's expectation of an 18 percent price cut from the fourth to fifth batches of production planes.