Mystery aswell here with the F35 thread suddenly missing.

In another bizarre twist, ‘Assassination’ of Malaysian consul Zahid Raza in Madagascar fuels new MH370 conspiracy

“What makes a possible link to MH370 even more suspicious is that in the time period surrounding his death, Mr Raza was expected to visit the Malagasy Ministry of Transport, retrieve additional recovered pieces, and deliver those pieces to Malaysia.”

With the nbr of people directly or remotely involved in this story, a lot a striking coincidence can happen without having any direct links. Let’s not fuel any speculation.

Source:
news.com.au

Certainly not any lack of cynicism.

Low level Mosquitoes attack:

Yes. Murky and weird. France just got 1b$ worth of contract for the Belgian army. It’s hard to think that they will ressort to such comedy. At least as a mark of respect for the Belgian MoD….

JPO Fixing F-35 Oxygen, Carrier Landing, Software Glitches: VADM Winter

Regarding the problem with the nose landing gear on the catapult:

The program’s […] made minor adjustments to fix the intense vibration during catapult take-offs (“cat stroke”). There’s no need for a costly and time-consuming redesign of the aircraft’s nose landing gear, as some had thought.
Two Navy F-35C squadrons (VFA-101 and VFA-125) now have both [(helmet and nose landing gear)] sets of fixes and are going through carrier qualifications with them aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, Winter said. This isn’t a test specially arranged for the F-35 program, he emphasized. It’s pilots going through their routine training, using the improved gear and providing feedback on it.

Source:
BreakingDefense.com

C’mon, it’s not a choice of Ice cream where any blend might do it. Stealth is a deal breaker. EoA. Then there is the Typhoon and its superior dynamics cap (the Rafale is limited too close to what the 35 is believed to be). It’s perfectly logical to see both design competing for the last round. It’s A2A mainly Vs a focus on other cap.

Mind that with the size of Belgium the difference in dash speed might not brings any real bonus.