Title: If the F-35 fighter jet is so awesome, why is it so hated? | The Times of Israel
Headings: If the F-35 fighter jet is so awesome, why is it so hated?
If the F-35 fighter jet is so awesome, why is it so hated?
Israel’s next stealth aircraft is the future of modern warfare, but the Pentagon’s program costs over $1.5 trillion — and it’s not yet operational
Some harsh criticism
Serious deficiencies
The way of the future
Israel is committed

Content: Though it may be put into service in Israel as early as next year, most estimate the F-35 will only be completely functional in 2021. The F-35’s ejector seats were found to be dangerous for pilots who weigh less than 165 pounds (75 kilograms). There are programming bugs in the 8 million lines of code that run the aircraft’s various avionics and weapons systems. The helmet, designed by Israel’s Elbit Systems, is so large it reportedly made it difficult for pilots to turn their heads in the cockpit. To the F-35 team, these issues are a natural, expected product of a project as complex as a fifth-generation stealth fighter, and they are currently being addressed and fixed by Lockheed Martin. The weight restriction does not affect any current pilots, and a new helmet is due to be released in October 2017, the company said in a statement. But those examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Dr. J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester, known as the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, or DOT&E, identified 91 “Category 1” or “Category 2” deficiencies in the F-35 platform as of October 2015, which he revealed in a scathing, if jargon-heavy, 48-page report published earlier this year . A Category 1 deficiency — of which there were 27 — “may cause death, severe injury, or severe occupational illness; may cause loss or major damage to a weapon system;