Originally Posted by KenV
Two decades ago when the partnership was forming the head of the program firmly established that the JSF would be optimized for air-to-ground, NOT air-to-air, as you (falsely) claim. AND he said that it would be "reliant" on an air-dominant fighter and would not BE an air-dominant fighter, as you (falsely) claim. Have you got a single quote from LM that contradicts MajGen Meullner? Just one? May I gently suggest that what you "remember" is subject to all sorts of (false) assumptions.
Ken, LM claimed and claims F35 being superior in flight performance (FP) to 4th gen.
No one is saying anything about air-dominance, but specific metrics.
F16 isn't an 'air-dominance' (whatever that means) fighter either, but commands certain FP, which LM claimed the JSF had surpassed.
AFs decide about a certain model based on various metrics not nomenclature, so 'air-dominance', or 'air-superiority' is meaningless.