“Despite aspirations for a joint aircraft, the F-35A, F-35B and F-35C are essentially three distinct aircraft, with significantly different missions and capability requirements,” the Senate stated in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2017.......
And this is a surprise?!!? And how long will it be before the one area of "commonality" (the cockpit/systems) of the Navy and USAF versions diverge? Israel is
already on record as significantly diverging from the USAF standard even though they bought the A model and have yet to receive a single one. The "one size fits all" mantra from the government was a fantasy in the 1960s and remains a fantasy half a century later.