You seem to be forgetting historical precedent.

If you discover it, claim it, and populate it… it’s yours.

Human beings have been doing that since the beginning of time.

And how would you describe the basis of British sovereignty over the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands?

Just like the Falklands, the UK claimed sovereignty (before anyone else) over the islands long before Argentina ever came into existence.

Really, you have to ask?

Argentina is demanding something that they have never had by denying something that the UK has historically had access to…. aka extortion.

In simpler terms, give me something you own or I will hurt you (economically). It does not get any simpler than that.

Once you give a bully an inch, he’ll try and take a mile.

Extortion is extortion, no matter how you justify it.

I don’t see how the threat of unending extortion applies – once an agreement is reached, both parties are bound by it. Whatever support Argentina has today would quickly evaporate if it attempted to abrogate a treaty on frivolous grounds.

What I meant was that once the UK shows its weakness by giving into extortion, it opens itself up to other extortion and forced “re-negotiation”.

If there is am much oil in the area as they think then they can certainly afford to ignore Argentina.

Where did I say that? All I stated was what is included with each block and to progress of those blocks.

The majority of the work to be done is the VALIDATION of the work that has been completed, not the work itself.

As far as a solution goes – an ideal compromise would be to allow Argentina certain (negotiable) rights within the islands’ EEZ and turn sovereignty of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands over to Argentina (which in turn would grant British scientific teams unfettered access).

How is that an “ideal compromise”?

A negotiation/compromise implies that both parties get something in the deal. What does the UK gain? They already have everything they want.

This is like negotiating with a thief to only give up one of the cars and be happy to be left with the other.

You need to do more research as your basic knowledge on the F-35’s capabilities is lacking.

A majority of the software is in Block 0.1 and 0.5 (a total of 67%). Blk 1 only adds another 19% (86% total), Blk 2 adds 10% (96% total) and finally, Blk3 adds only 4% to the software total.

btw, Blk0.5 has most of the sensor integration, so it’s far beyond just fbw. Here is a chart that shows what Blk0.5 is (LRIP1&2 are Blk1).

Blk 3 is the smallest block (only about 4% of the software). It seems large due to it being mostly dedicated to weapons integration, but the real workhorse Blks are 0.5 and 1 due to the integration issues (both of which are flying).

btw, They have started training on Blk 1, not Blk2A. The original plan was to start training on Blk0.5, but decided on Blk1 instead. It was never Blk2A.