My favourite Gen. Bogdan quotes on the visibility issue:
F-35 Production on Track, Program Chief Says 14 Mar 2013 By Claudette Roulo | American Forces Press Service
F-35 Production on Track, Program Chief Says
"...Bogdan said recent criticisms about technical issues and allegations of limited aft visibility are ill-informed. “I don't lose sleep at night over the technical issues on this program,” he said. There are known solutions for all of the known issues with the aircraft, he added.
“We have yet to fly a single air-to-air engagement with another F-35 or another airplane,” he said. “The airplane's not ready to do that. We're still doing basic training on the airplane, [and] we're still doing basic testing on the airplane. So for someone to assess that the visibility behind the airplane is such that it will 'get gunned down every time,' [is] a little premature."..."
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F-35: Quotes of the Day 13 Mar 2013 Barry Graff
http://whythef35.********.com.au/201...es-of-day.html
"I've pointed out the absurdity of a particular quote attributed to a "leaked memo" from the Director of the Operational Test and Evaluation Directorate to the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, i.e.:
Other sections of the report outline some of the flaws that make the cockpit unsafe for pilots:
“The out-of-cockpit visibility in the F-35A is less than other Air Force fighter aircraft The head rest is too large and will impede aft [rear] visibility and survivability during surface and air engagements. Aft visibility will get the pilot gunned [down] every time in dogfights."
Lieutenant General Bogden(sic), DoD's lead man on the F-35 program, was apparently hit with a question about this by someone in the media. His answer is priceless:
He pointed out the DAS system, would allow rear viewing (and below) and then said, “If some F-35 pilot out there is afraid of getting gunned every time, then we can have him fly C-12s.”
Of course a C-12 is the military of a civilian King Air. In terms of insulting a fighter pilot, I can't imagine a worse one. What Bogden effectively did is dismiss the criticism as just plain nonsense. That won't stop uniformed critics from still trying to use this as some sort of indicator of the aircraft's deficiencies, but, in fact, it is a red herring...."