EDIT: Ok, I wandered through the L.M. reclama to the critique, and discern an IOC of 2017.
The latest SAR quotes an earliest date of 2019, with a probable additional slip of 18 months into 2021.
Which date would you be prepared to put money on?
Lagging JSF Software Development Worries Pentagon DOT&E
........Software problems are part but not all of the reason for slow progress with weapons integration, along with optimistic and inaccurate assumptions about the need for margins and the availability of instrumentation and range support.
“The impact of these delays will potentially require an additional 18 months added to the schedule for weapons integration events,” the report warns.
The report adds to the uncertainty surrounding the F-35’s initial operational capability (IOC) dates. Last summer, Congress added language to the 2013 budget that called on the U.S. Air Force and Navy to name IOC dates for all three versions by year’s end — then changed the deadline to June 1 at the last minute.
The most recent Selected Acquisition Report disclosed that Block 3F initial operational test and evaluation, a necessary event for IOC, would not be finished until 2019 — and that does not include any additional weapons integration time.