The F-35: Dog of Dogs. By David Archibald.

At US$84,000 per hour, [an F-22] is simply too expensive to operate for something that only carries a handful of missiles. And missiles miss most of the time. The fighter that shot down the balloon over Lake Huron missed on the first attempt — on a stationary target. …

 

US fighter aircraft operating costs per hour 2011 – 2020

 

The F-35 is indeed turning out to be a hanger queen:

The US Navy never really wanted its version — the F-35C, which rewards that lack of affection by being properly capable only 20% of the time. The Marine’s F-35B is simply too complicated a contraption for the austere bases the Marines hope to operate from. The F-35A’s full mission capable rate of 40% means that the type is almost completely useless.

 

 

One clue as to how fast an aircraft might age is to see how it stacks up against other fighters at the same age. It doesn’t look good for the F-35. It’s in a death dive that started at birth. The F-35 fleet is likely to be parked up before it gets to a fleet average age of 10 years.

 

 

What this means for the RAAF is that it will be replacing the F-35 much sooner than it thinks.

Read it all at the link.