its hard to take the opinions of the pilots that fly them with complete confidence. they have a vested interest, their career is over if the f35 is over.
On the low end, the f35 costs about as much as 5 f16s, which also have twice the range over an f35. the f35 is the bf109 of the modern era.
military brass keeps wanting all purpose aircraft, and 100 years of military aircraft experience has shown that never works.
Pilots can switch planes like programmers can switch programming languages so "protecting career" is unlikely.
"Obeying my boss" is what is most likely happening here. I get the sense that they are literally instructed not to give bad PR about the plane. Or even worse, this entire article is scripted.
On the low end, the f35 costs about as much as 5 f16s, which also have twice the range over an f35. the f35 is the bf109 of the modern era.
military brass keeps wanting all purpose aircraft, and 100 years of military aircraft experience has shown that never works.