Just waiting for all the JSF cheer squad to start praising Bogdan's success in "saving" the program, even though none of them would have acknowledged two years ago that it needed saving in the first place.
I love it when bold unsubstantiated claims are countered with bold unsubstantiated claims. "no one" who thinks the JSF might actually be good could acknowledge the program had troubles?
People who are realistic about the JSF will quickly concede the procurement has been harsh nasty brutish and long. The problem I have is when people equate that to combat capability. That issue gets confused on both sides, as the JSF fans feel they must defend a horrific procurement system in order to defend the JSF's future combat virtues. I see nothing wrong with claiming the program was in dire straights and in a lot of ways still has issues ahead, but will produce a good aircraft in the end. I say this because procurement has been so messed up for so long, yet still produces capable machines despite the issues.
Thats the problem here. procurement, cost, capability, politics, etc just gets lumped into one giant messy furball and no one bothers to separate one from the other, so in a single paragraph you will get hit with a procurement issue, massive costs/delays, future fleet sustainment ("1 trillion dollars!") and then Wheeler talking about battle damage. Claiming that Wheeler doesn't know his sphincter from a hole the ground doesn't suddenly mean you think the program is a peach, and a trillion dollars to sustain a fleet of 3,000 aircraft over 50 years is excessive.