Rich, the F-35 is living off of a lot of claims. Those claims are becoming increasingly less reliable as time goes on. For the cost that the F-35 is now expected to hit, the F-22B could have been finalized and fielded. The F-35 is never going to be able to compete on the level it claimed from the beginning. As was previously discussed, there are ways around attacking without stealth, and it is one of the main reasons the Growler exists for. You claim the F-15 Silent Eagle can't compete with the F-35, but the F-35 can't seem to even remain in service, let alone meet any goals in a timely manner or in anyway close to expectations.
Face it, the F-35 was over hyped, under delivered, and ridiculously over cost.