Interesting points John, and you obviously know more about it than most. I think with the F-35 though the question has to be when does it cease to be a developmental aircraft and when can we expect it to stop going t#ts-up like this all the time?
After all, the JPO already claims to have stood up the first USMC
operational squadron in 2012!
USMC stands-up first operational F-35B squadron; operational testing in 2015 - 11/21/2012 - Flight Global
and IOC for the marines is only a matter of months away.