Pentagon says damning report of F-35 troubles ‘doesn’t tell the entire story’

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the $400 billion futuristic jet program that so many love to hate, found itself, once again, in the crosshairs this week when a popular military blog published a report from a test pilot who apparently found its performance less than stellar.

“Test pilot admits the F-35 can’t dogfight,” read the headline in War is Boring. “New stealth fighter is dead meat in air battle.”

By now, after years of media beating up the most expensive weapons program in the history of the U.S. military, the Pentagon’s joint program office and Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor, have well-oiled media response teams that are quick to rush to the plane’s defense.

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