http://www.defense-aerospace.com/art…ility-low.html

Whaaaaaaat the hell is going on?

The devil is in the details (hint, the DoD changed the spec half way through the program).

DOD cannot fully account for its spare parts within the F-35 supply chain, including the quantity of all the spare parts it owns and where they are located. The prime contractor manages the F-35 supply chain and the movement of all F-35 parts across the F-35 enterprise to meet warfighter needs. DOD initially did not intend to own the F-35 parts, but in 2012 the F-35 program’s executive steering board issued a decision memorandum declaring the F-35 parts in the global spares pool to be titled to the U.S. government when they are not installed on an aircraft. However, program officials told us that DOD did not develop a corresponding plan to maintain accountability over the parts that it already owned or would purchase in the future. According to program officials, this is due in part to property accountability not being a priority for the program in its effort to field aircraft. This is evidenced by the number of staff within the program office dedicated to this mission; program officials said that until recently there was only one government official at the program office overseeing property accountability for the F-35 system.

In order to maintain accountability for government property, such as the spare parts within the F-35 supply chain, DOD guidance requires that DOD components establish and maintain a physical inventory control program for assets within the DOD supply chain to serve as a key internal control for providing information to inform inventory financial statements.49 Defense Contract Management Agency officials also told us that in order to improve F-35 readiness and decrease costs, DOD must have an understanding of the F-35 spare parts it owns, where those parts are located, and how those parts are being used to support the weapon system. However, the F-35 program has not consistently followed DOD guidance for property accountability. For example:

–As of December 2018, the program office had not populated an accountable property system of record50 with data for its F-35 parts.51 DOD components are required to establish and maintain accountable property systems of record for property that DOD components own and manage. An accountable property system of record is required to contain information such as cost, location, and custodial ownership data for property, including individual parts, that meet certain criteria, and to provide a comprehensive log of transactions that can be audited. Such a system would allow the F-35 program office to have asset visibility for spare parts within the F-35 supply chain.52 The program office has identified a database to use as its accountable property system of record, but DOD officials stated that the program office does not have the data necessary to populate it. According to program officials, the prime contractor keeps some of the required data in proprietary databases to which the program office does not have access. In addition, DOD officials told us that the program office is working through some limitations that need to be addressed with the system the program office has chosen to be its accountable property system of record in order to properly maintain data records.

–The program office has not fully identified which spare parts the prime contractor is required to enter into DOD’s Item Unique Identification registry (hereinafter referred to as DOD’s central registry for government property). In addition to component-specific accountable property systems of record, DOD’s central registry for government property is DOD’s primary data source for government furnished property, and it is intended to provide department-wide asset visibility for all government property and links with financial and accountability systems in order to maintain accountability over the assets DOD owns.53 DOD guidance states that agencies are to require contractors to report government furnished property in DOD’s central registry for government property.54 DOD guidance also states that DOD agencies are to identify which assets require unique item-level traceability.55 However, the program office has not clearly defined for the prime contractor all F-35 spare parts that should be entered into DOD’s central registry. As a result, DOD officials said the prime contractor is not entering in information about all required parts. Moreover, a property accountability official said that the prime contractor is not consistently entering F-35 parts into DOD’s central registry when the parts are delivered, because the prime contractor may delay entering information into DOD’s central registry until all items associated with a specific contract line item have been delivered to DOD. This official also said that there are some contract line items dating back to the first production lot, which delivered aircraft in 2011, that remain open, and thus there are potentially thousands of F-35 parts that are being used within the global spares pool that have not been entered into the registry, thereby impeding DOD’s visibility over these parts.

WAY more at the JUMP (Page 38 for the above quote)
https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/698693.pdf

That chart is also fleet wide while operational & newer units are a lot higher.

Keep in mind that the F-35’s airshows have been limited to Block 3i until recently.

These are US based OT F-16 pilots in BFM. Avionics and stealth played no part in the furball. It was all about maneuverability.

Not sure what you mean in your VMF reference, but in the link I provided he talks about the benefits of the new VMF link but never associates it with “5th gen”.

Air Force’s F-35A Deploys to Middle East for First Time

15 Apr 2019
Military.com | By Oriana Pawlyk
The U.S. Air Force’s F-35A variant has officially deployed to the Middle East.

Air Forces Central Command announced Monday that F-35 fifth-generation fighters from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, have deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates to keep watch in the region.

It’s the first time Air Force F-35s have deployed to the Middle East.

More at the JUMP
https://www.military.com/daily-news/…irst-time.html

Official Press release:
https://www.afcent.af.mil/News/Article/1813833/us-air-forces-f-35a-lightning-ii-arrives-for-first-middle-east-deployment/

It was two separate issues relates to two unrelated parts.

It was not a single problem that was not resolved.