From where we sat, far away in another land, quite an interest was taken in the 32/35 contest. Being on the other side of the fence, so to speak, we were quite relieved when the Lockheed submission was chosen. The Boeing bid, while of the face of it simpler, was technologically more advanced - the thermoplastics for the wing and the overall wing design were particularly innovative.
Mr Farley is, as ever on these matters, quite correct. Hot gas ingestion in an aeroplane in the hover is never a desirable attribute. But having established that simulation data did not translate into the real world, we believe that Boeing were well on their way to resolving this issue. Why they weren't given the opportunity to implement this was beyond our understanding
In truth, the 32 was killed by its looks. So instead of an aircraft with 20 years development potential you now have the opportunity to purchase the phenomenally expensive bastard child of the F-22 with questionable performance characteristics (which get worse by the day...) and a myriad of problems which were entirely foreseeable but ignored because 'it looked good'.
Have you ever wondered why the Chinese, despite having access to most of the 35's program data, have thought it wise only to copy selected elements of its design?