Originally Posted by Courtney Mil
...The discussion about the claims made by LM, JPO and test polite has seen a distinct shift of positions as some of the old claims have started to emerge out of the archives. LM have wisely removed those claims from their website, but they live on in carefully rephrased statements, modified to compatible, equal to or better, etc, which are still open to debate, especially as they now include caveats such as Gen 4 jets being "hogged up" vs F-35 carrying only internal weapons...
How far do you need to go back? This is from LM's website of seven years ago, accessed via the extremely useful internet archive wayback machine:
Originally Posted by Maj Gen Charles R. Davis, F-35 program executive officer 19 Sep 2008
Here are the facts:
• The F-35 is a racehorse, not a "dog," as Wheeler/Sprey suggest. In stealth combat configuration, the F-35 aerodynamically outperforms all other combat-configured 4th generation aircraft in top-end speed, loiter, subsonic acceleration and combat radius. This allows unprecedented "see/shoot first" and combat radius advantages...
I'm not disputing that LM has gilded the lily on occasion, possibly in the same press release, but curiosity led me to check out your specific accusation.