The USAF full operational capability lie via The Drive...

Thanks to Moebius for the link! (Didn't remember you linked this till this morning!)

via The Drive.

Still, it’s not entirely clear how the Air Force is defining “fully combat capable” in this case. None of the three F-35 variants have even begun the mandatory testing process run by the Pentagon's Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), which is independent of the individual services.

What is clear is that this is not the same, nor is the service claiming it is, as a formal declaration of “full operational capability,” or FOC. The Pentagon-standard definition for FOC is when every unit that is supposed to receive a certain weapon system has gotten that piece of equipment and can both operate and maintain it. This announcement is generally only supposed to come after the system passes DOT&E's rigorous independent testing regime.

The Air Force had already added confusion to this process by declaring initial operational capability (IOC), which is supposed to reflect a basic operational capability, for the F-35A before the end of developmental testing and without any operational evaluations. The service seems to be again obfuscating the situation, intentionally or unintentionally, by using a term that sounds similar to FOC, but isn't, which has already led to confusion in the media about what this new announcement realistically means. 

Then this.

 “Declaring ‘initial operational capability’ after each of the program's steps rather diminishes the pronouncement,” Grazier added. “I'm sure most people are really only interested in ‘full operational capability’ as that is what we are paying for.”

Beyond that, based on the publicly available information, it’s hard to say whether or not the Block 3F software package will provide a truly complete suite of combat capabilities. We have no reason to doubt the new code will finally allow F-35A pilots to employ the fuller range of existing operational weapons the Air Force wants the aircraft to carry by the end of the ongoing developmental testing process.

As of 2015, this list of planned weapon options was relatively short, including the AIM-9X and AIM-120C air-to-air missiles, GBU-12/B 500-pound class laser-guided bombs, GBU-31/B 2,000-pound class GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs, the GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), and the GAU-22/A 25mm cannon. There are now plans to integrate 500- and 1,000-pound class JDAMs and the GBU-49/B dual-mode version of the GBU-12.

Story here. 

Long short?  This is the most corrupt program in the history of the US military. Forget the costs as horrendous as it is, think about the morale bankruptcy this plane is causing among those in senior positions.

The gamesmanship being played with "IOC" and "FOC" is telling and disgusting.  These people are breaking the law...at least the spirit of the law and Congress is so fucking stupid that they're more worried about basing rights than they are the bankrupting of our defense dept.