[StLCylone]

"the activity of designing and building the plane became more important than the outcome / functionality of the plane itself."

Yes. After a while was it about building the plane or keeping the aerospace industry employed and engaged? The design tried to do everything for everyone and fulfill every Colonel's dream feature and mission. Its the ultimate story of feature creep.

[hef19898]

Youhave to maintian the industrial base, so. To maintain the stuff for the next decades and replace any losses. Hard during peace time. In preparation of a war of attritition against an equal oponent close to impossible. How do you maintain the necessary base to produce hundreds of jets, F-35s or whatever Gen 5, once all have been delivered? That aspect alone is critical for the success of such a weapon system. It doesn't help to have a couple of hundred Gen 6 fighters if you cannot replace them in a war against someone who can replace his gen 4/4+ jets.

[ldbooth]

Like the smartphone phenomenon. They need to sell you something, so they sell you on useless features. And it works!

My flip phone is in the mail. They got me regressing too.