[ranger207]

It's $1.7 trillion in 2023 dollars (I think) total costs across the entirety of the program until 2070 (not sure if the number is "starting today" or "from the start of the program in ~1993") for ~2000 planes for the US and ~1000 for allies (although I don't think the $1.7 trillion includes allies). But the question isn't "how much does the F-35 cost", it's "how much more/less does the F-35 cost compared to whatever else would fulfill its place". Would that be modernized F-15s and F-16s? Would those be able to fulfill the requirements set by the Air Force and indirectly by Congress? Or would there be another program instead that might cost even more than $1.7 trillion across ~50 years (or 80 if counting from the start of the program)?

Also, the F-35 isn't an iteration on the F-22. It's an entirely new airplane. It's a bit worse in aerodynamics but has far better sensors and electronics, reducing the importance of aerodynamics in the first place. In a dogfight the F-22 is better; in a realistic engagement involving multiple platforms and missions being performed at once with air, sea, and land targets and allies, the F-35 is better.

The F-35 program was absolutely mismanaged in its early years and it's a crime that nothing was done about that. There's parts of the program that are mismanaged today (see [0] for examples of what the Air Force is trying to do to avoid those problems with their next fighter). But the program now isn't substantially worse than what other fighters went through, and despite all the program's failings the product itself is fantastic

[0] https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/avoiding-f-35-acquisit...

[oatmeal1]

It's an iteration because it is basically just a more versatile F-22. But versatility isn't all that useful since we have bases all over the world*, and other similarly stealthy aircraft can perform surveillance and ground attacks. The F-22 is already fully capable of next-gen A2A combat.

[ianburrell]

The F-22 cost $138 million. F-35 is down to $70 million. The US only bought 200 F-22, they aren’t being made anymore, and they are needing replacement in decade. That doesn’t help with the thousands of other fighters that need replacement.

Name “other similarly stealthy” aircraft. All our allies are buying F-35 because it is the only affordable, good stealthy fighter available.