JSFfan,
While I'm somewhat reluctant to stick my head into the buzzsaw that this thread has become (will it still be running in 2018?) I feel I must respond to the comments you made in reply to kbrockman's "update from Holland".
While you may despair of people who aren't fully "in the know", or are even misinformed, you would do well to remember that all military procurement decisions in the western world are ultimately made by politicians, who, while they are briefed by their military advisors, generally themselves are well short of being "in the know".
Politicians just see cost increases and overruns, delays in delivery, and subsequent bad press, often when they are trying to get re-elected, cut budgets, and justify military expenditure to an electorate more interested in tax cuts, better schools, hospitals, etc. In USA politics may keep programmes alive that should be cut, to preserve jobs, the aerospace industry, etc - but export customers may well look elsewhere as costs rise, deadlines slip, and the project attracts bad press with comments about "capability reductions", etc....
"love it or hate it, the f-35 is what a dozen and more countries will be flying
at this stage the SDD wraps up in 2016, the design is locked in 2017 and final IOT&E 2018 for FRP 2019" ... only time will tell whether or not your prediction comes true, but it may ulimately have very little to do with the technical capabilities the aircraft finally delivers.