Case Closed: The F-35 Is the Stealth Fighter the U.S. Military Needs Abandoning the F-35 now would be a huge mistake that would set back U.S. and Allied airpower. And only Russia and China would benefit. The F-35 stealth fighter jet has had quite a trajectory over a period of many years, including substantial ups and downs marked by some breakthrough successes such as new weapons integration, performance enhancing software upgrades, wargame performance, favorable pilot reviews, growing global demand and some measure of initial combat success. As part of this multi-year developmental maturation, there have also been some developmental hurdles including computer glitches, technical maturation hiccups and a one-time engine malfunction. Of course, the largest criticism over the years has been cost.