Because military technology is insanely inflated in price when you consider quality. Defense contractors know as long as they deliver something that nominally flies, they'll get money, so they're making crap. The English are going through a similar problem with their Ajax armored vehicle program

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It was never going to be invincible, but considering this is the first time it was hit by enemy fire since 2018 (afaik), the F-35 is pretty impressive. It still landed safely too

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Because we have privatized military development so it’s more about stuff that looks cool rather than stuff that actually works, and it’s about using up as much time and resources as possible in order to get the fattest possible paycheck

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