Since then, Pentagon officials have universally declared TSPR a failure when applied to development programs like F-35, pointing to the contract structure as the root of the program’s initial cost and schedule issues.
IIRC, TSPR was a child of the infamous "acquisition reform" which was a child of VP Al Gore's "re-inventing government." No surprise it laid an egg. The F-35 programs difficulties as a program (aircraft aside) were blazingly obvious to a lot of people over a decade ago. When hope becomes a risk mitigation method ...
Glad to hear the pilots like the machine.