Original quote by sandiego89: Anyone that has had debated keeping an old car relate- you pay for the $600 brake repair, the $2,500 transmission repair, 6 months later, the $250 radiator repair....it adds up. Would your money be better spent on a new car? Oh by the way your Band-Aid car is now 20+ years old, does not have airbags, does not have antilock brakes, still has a cassette deck
Funny you should bring up old cars, we have two, one is 17 years old going on 18 and the other is 15 years old going on 16. Both have all the stuff you think are missing. But, what is missing are monthly loan or lease payments when you don't have the cash to plunk down upfront for the latest and greatest. Don't think your analogy fits the current picture quite correctly. For the F-35, one thing that won't be missing is the continual upgrades to fix things that don't work well along with the associated costs, or to replace technology that is quickly becoming dated due to late delivery.
