The Marine Corps has lost its first F-35

There goes a few grand down the toilet.

This points to one of the biggest issues with the F-35 and to some extent all modern aircraft. They are just too damned expensive. When a minor part defect can spark a small fire and take a $100 million+ aircraft permanently out of commission, we need to really think this through. Maritime aviation is hard on aircraft. Combat is harder still. How much will it cost us to fight a war where the other team has capabilities to destroy several of these? Or just the standard loss rate for aircraft when simply flown for training or patrols?

Not good!!