Mk 1...
"The unit cost is nowhere near as bad as its media detractors suggest".
Not sure which detractors you are talking about, or which definition of cost you're using, but as a generic statement this does not mean much. Unit production cost of the B (under discussion here) is by any definition about three-quarters of what RAND estimated the F-22 would have cost in continued production, if everything goes to plan and at triple-digit total F-35 production rates.
The F-35A is still much more expensive than the Super Hornet in production costs, whether total procurement, flyaway or (LockMart's favorite) tow-away (no engine). All this is in the latest official estimates, the 2011 SAR.
"We need to accept LockMart's line on this... trust the professionals in the air forces."
Er, no. Not when progress has been retrograde since 2008 (IOC now appears to be further in the future than it was then) and the projected US acquisition bill (R&D and procurement) has gone up $40 million a day in constant dollars since the SDD contract was signed. Or when people who were briefing 2013 IOCs in 2009 are still employed.
Also - I would try to avoid terms like "haters" around here. Save it for the sites infested with hairy-palmed basement-dwelling pizzavores, where BTW you will find much more spluttering invective aimed at JSF critics than the other way around.