The design was, in some areas, being driven by SME 'wants', not actual requirements 'needs'.
This sounds very familiar. The early C-17 program was bedeviled by USAF/SPO "Subject Matter Experts" who drove the detailed design in all sorts of different directions, running up costs and stretching out the schedule. It was a mess and almost killed the program.
As for the numerous KPPs F-35 was claimed to have violated, that claim was apparently once again an exaggeration based on false assumptions that led to a wild conclusion.