OK, Spaz - Here is a fact. The DoD has funded 422 LRIP F-35s through FY18 (deliveries completed during 2020, on the usual pattern).
You can check it here...
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
...although you might not, since it's harder work than citing manufacturer claims.
Subtract from that the very early aircraft that everyone understood would never be operational, the early LRIP blocks (
TBD) that cannot be economically brought to service standard, and however many airplanes are still stuck waiting for upgrades in 2020... even if that total is zero, which it is not, Gates' 2009 prediction is still far, far off the mark.
And his prediction for 2025 will be even less accurate since the affordable annual quantity of airplanes is some 30 aircraft lower than promised in 2009.