Why is it with the F35 that there are always two diametrically opposite stories out there?
There was a great fan fare about how successful the latest F35C trials on a carrier had been, you think sensible Navy doing a lot of test and development with a few test aircraft, less cost in the future with concurrency etc. Not wanting to get the F35 into the front line till 3F software is proven so it is a full warfighting system, seems very sensible.
Then we find that the wings are not strong enough to carry wing tip missiles and a catapult launch is a painful and possibly dangerous experience, that needs an engineering solution...
Does this possible two year development program for a fix mean that the Navy's IOC is put back as well?