content: It reminds me of the space shuttle, part of the reason it was a bloated mess of a vehicle was because too many military types added two many incompatible objectives to it during the design phase. They were constantly going back to the drawing board because (during the cold war when it was being designed) it was demanded that the shuttle could deliver satellites to pretty much anywhere and be able to land on 'any runway', as well as be able to collect soviet satellites and return them to earth safely for study. It was also as a longer term ambition meant to be able to carry pods filled with troops to be deployed anywhere on earth. ODST style. Seriously. Most of this has been swept under the rug, but you can dig up interviews and documentaries with old NASA staff recounting why the thing ended up being such an expensive monstrosity that wasn't good at any single type of mission. Sounds like the same thing is happening to the F-35.