Roughly 10 years ago, I voiced the opinion that the USAF should cancel the F-22 and go full out on the F-35.
Boy did I get that wrong - with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, the F-35A isn't coming out to be meaningfully less expensive to build than the F-22 and yet is less capable. I think the USAF would have been better served to punt on the F-35A and put all it's money into more F-22s, leaving the nightmare of sorting out the F-35B/C to the Navy
.
Unfortunately Rhino is probably correct - the option of additional F-22s has passed, and the F-35 has turned into the only game in town.
The F-35 has truly become 'too big to fail' (or at least too big to be allowed to fail).
