Now in support of
Hempy's article regarding the superiority of the F-35 in the three services role, I offer this:
George Standridge, VP of Business Development of Lockheed Martin predicted in 2006 that the F-35 will be four times more effective than legacy fighters in air-to-air combat, eight times more effective in air-to-ground combat, and three times more effective in reconnaissance and suppression of air defenses – while having better range and requiring less logistics support and having around the same procurement costs (if development costs are ignored) as legacy fighters. The design goals call for the F-35 to be the premier strike aircraft through 2040 and to be second only to the F-22 Raptor in air superiority.
However, George failed to mention that all three services will have F-35s designed in one way or another to accommodate this feature whether it is present or not:
Therefore, to conclude that the USAF or USN versions will be as capable as LM projects is highly questionable, IMHO. The US Marine version won the contest as to having the least compromised aircraft. What makes me wonder about the F-35 and the Marines is this article written by a former Marine:
With EF21, Marines Struggle to Remain Relevant
So, how close does the F-35 come to the F-22 capability? Here is the F-22 capability as a starting point:
