GF it's great for Australia that the currency situation helped to cushion the price increase. My concern, however, is centered upon the actual cost for the 2,374 the US is planned to purchase. The average projected unit flyaway is now $120 million, as shown in the current FY13 Budgets. The A's are $112 million.
Now frankly if the cost is the same $67 million (I'll assume REC) for Australia as projected 5 years ago that's great but for the US the cost has risen very considerably. It's a matter of debate if the current cost projections will impact the overall buy and I'd argue probably not. The issue is the future cost increase. At some point price will impact the total buy assuming we're not there already.
The other area of concern is the decade old USAF 1,763 total buy. That's not going to happen given current and future force structure reductions together with the certainty that one or more USAF strike wings will be flying a fighter sized UCAS instead of the F-35. The numbers will be far closer to 1,300 for 12 wings and could fall as low as 1,100 for 10. It's difficult to see the cost for the US for the A's to not end up north of $120 million unit flyaway.
My other comments on supporters of the program being critical were not aimed at anyone in particular. There does seem to be a tendency to lump all criticism into the crazy camp which is amplified on various discussion forums.