Lowering the F-35 Bar

Question: What do you do when the plane you want doesn't meet the specifications you set? Do you:

Photo: Wikipedia

1. Choose a new plane?
2. Make the existing plane better?
3. Change the specifications to match the plane you have?

Being the peaceful-loving guy I am, I try to stay out of military matters. But the recent announcement that the US Dept of Defence intends to "lower the performance requirements" for the F-35 just seems somewhat incredulous.

See the story here, courtesy of Australian Aviation Magazine: http://australianaviation.com.au/2013/01/f-35-performance-specs-lowered/

Sighting faults, failures & extensive delays, the report casts a big shadow over the seemingly impressive recent announcement of the delivery of 30 F-35's during the 2012 calendar year. It seems it's not the quantity that counts, but quality, & on that front, the F-35 still has a long way to go.

At least matching the specs to the plane, not the other way around, should at least make it easier to convince Congress, & all the foreign Governments, including Australia, that have signed up for it, that the plane is performing "as specified" & ensure ongoing funding. What was that Eisenhower said about the industrial-military complex?

Sounds like a con job to me.