Canceling F35 outright will most likely give us a truck load of VERY unhappy allies; that's probably not worth it unless a viable solution can be found for our friends abroad....

A totally combat capable fighter/bomber UAV is at least 2 decades away and UAVs are not necessary less expensive (if not more accident-prone) than manned aircraft. Perhaps it's wiser to go one step at a time (like the nEUROn UAV project)....

F22 or its derivative is probably the most viable solution as far as American need is concerned, but donno how long (or how costly) this High-without-Low decoupling can sustain. F22-Legacy (CCIP-F16s + F15Es + A10Cs) would probably do the trick for at least a decade or two....

An in-depth study is needed, that's for sure.

I wonder if the F-35 partners would want a refund for the funds invested. Spending lots of money on it and then telling their tax payers that the money is gone. That would go well
Well I am Dutch and know nothing about the F-35 except for what I have read here and there, but I seriously hope that the program continuous as I am confident that LM knows what they are doing. I am sure we can all look back at this in a few years time when loads of F-35's are flying around and think what were we worrying about
Keep up the good work LM and can't wait for you to prove all the skeptics wrong. Oh yes btw that probably means my vote is for the F-35

Ax or no ax, someone should implement strict prove-it-or-lose-it business concept on F35 instead of giving it unlimited benefit of doubt. Give the contractors a straight-forward task of building a stealthy STOVL on spec, on time and on budget before giving them the privilege to build air superiority, strike and/or naval variants in large quantities.

Europe does have good high-mid-low (Typhoon, Rafale, Gripen) platforms in production, but i’d hate to tell our good old allies that “sorry mates; the program is axed but thanks for your contribution!” A no-BS in-depth study and good consensus are too important. It just so happens that most of our international JSF partners are also the few close political buddies that we cannot afford to lose

Well, both U.S. pres candidates have already vowed to do a top-down review of major weapon acquisition projects so that will happen (an in-depth study, that is). I have a hunch the F-35 won't make it through such a study, and I would rather it be canceled than for it to bleed to death from budget cuts, like the F-22, which at only 183 airframes cannot be regarded as having been cost-effective, unless, of course, the USAF gets close to the 381 that it wants. As for UCAV, I would say it is more like a decade away rather than two. Remember that the NGB may very well be unmanned, or at least a portion of said fleet. After all is said and done, I think it is the F-22 that will continue in production indefenitely, and something else will come along to take the place of the F-35. The Flying Turd is to warplanes as Iraq is to wars (and yes, we can blame the Clinton administration for the Frankenstein's Monster that the F-35 has proved to be)...

Canceling F35 outright will most likely give us a truck load of VERY unhappy allies; that's probably not worth it unless a viable solution can be found for our friends abroad....

A totally combat capable fighter/bomber UAV is at least 2 decades away and UAVs are not necessary less expensive (if not more accident-prone) than manned aircraft. Perhaps it's wiser to go one step at a time (like the nEUROn UAV project)....

F22 or its derivative is probably the most viable solution as far as American need is concerned, but donno how long (or how costly) this High-without-Low decoupling can sustain. F22-Legacy (CCIP-F16s + F15Es + A10Cs) would probably do the trick for at least a decade or two....

An in-depth study is needed, that's for sure.

The Navy will certainly need the F-35 to give it the range it once had with the Tomcat and Intruder. The Superhornet is a jack of all trades, but the range is very limited even with the ability to buddy tank.

Days of Naval Aviation are certainly rather boring at the moment, With the exception of the Prowler (which days are numbe red) and Hawikeye, Everything right now is made by Boeing i.e. Superbugs and regular bugs, the regular bug is alright, but short legged and the Superbug isn't that much better. The days of almost all Ironworks aircraft are surely missed. F-14, A-6, EA-6B, E-2C all Grumman, the two exceptions were the a A-7 and S-3. Those were the days when naval aviation could truly kick-a$$ and take names.

Still miss the Grumman days though.