or most important purpose

making the next iteration as similar as possible to the previous generates a considerable amount of value in itself, if you are willing to do the grunt work.

yes u can make things more efficient

my point here is that the external aerodynamic properties of certain types of desirable military aircraft have not changed, per type, substantially since the '80s

You might get better engines, find out that thrust vectoring affects the desired wing structure

maybe two subassemblies are merged for better rigidity or serviceability

but that's not the same as "starting from the ground up"

which, in my view, is rarely your best option, if the system you want is substantially similar to the one you have.

they key phrase being "if the system you want is substantially similar to the one you have"

which is, in this case, true

and what if you wanted to simplify supply lines?

they've attempted to merge the roles into one parent design of the airframe

you have failed

because you now have three aircraft which share what...10% of parts?

its like running retardedly. if u get 10 mph at running retardedly imagine the speed you'll get if u start back down and do the right form for running.

they share a lot of the instruments and software surely

but those were never that difficult to share between craft anyway

a VTOL F35 will be able to share exactly _none_ of the external surfaces

_none_ of the power components

None of the subassemblies are the same.

i was not aware the f35 design was publicly available

They have concepts

a vtol HAS to have ports in places there are none on the other two

it has to have ducts, vents, actuators

yes, and a keyless ignition care has a spot for the key ignition

are they going to make all three have the same bloody ducts the vtol has?

just like a steering less car has a spot for the steering wheel

is that going to be a void?

what will replace it structurally?

on the outside why not? put in a plate that bolts in place like every other panel.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/F-35B_Joint_Strike_Fighter_%28thrust_vectoring_nozzle_and_lift_fan%29.PNG look at this shit

what goes where that lift fan is at?

second cockpit?

ammo

bombs

extra fuel (although that causes balance issues) or nothing if you are aiming for more underwing armament

the F135 has distinct variants for each F35 configuration

so how much of this supply is going to be shared?

sure, they might come from the same factories

but what do you get? you don't get interchangeability

you're not going to be building F135 variants into eachother