Spaz - "The airplane flies a large part of its mission at a non-optimised altitude"
Now, why would such a restriction have been imposed in the first place? My bet is operational considerations - sensor range, standoff, detectability, whatever - which have now been traded away to avert a KPP fail. Any other credible suggestions?
The Canada presentation should earn its author - Joe Isuzu, I suspect - a proper wigging from the SEC about the lack of a "forward-looking statements" disclaimer. 235 aircraft on order? Er, no, they are counting Lot 8, and Lots 6 and 7 have not been definitized yet.
Lockheed hopes to firm up F-35 Lot 6 & 7 contracts before mid-year
The effectiveness claims on P4? 8:1 in surveillance? Under what assumptions? Versus an Eagle with a bigger radar, similar ESM and a LOROP pod? Without that sort of detail they are meaningless at best.
The production chart on page 7 - they could accommodate another 60 deliveries in 2016? Really? They expect to deliver how many aircraft before Block 3F IOC?
And as for industrial participation, when you're reduced to putting "External Lighting Printed Circuit Board" on your big-impact picture of Canada's contribution to the jet, you are digging pretty deep.