The "National Interest" has for months, years been beating up the F-35 program as a Non-operational money pit.

They have changed their tune and the capabilities of the aircraft are shining through to the most vocal critics. A whole new capacity for interoperability is revealed in the recent success of the DAS. And that is now possible because they shitcanned the old helmet. This description sounds like it came out the Lockheed PR Dept. but no, it's the very Brookings Institute/ Council on Foreign Relations style National Interest.

"The F-35A is operational and combat ready, and this F-35 theater security package to the Pacific Command area of responsibility is further proof of the Air Force's capability to deploy the world's most lethal fighter anywhere on the planet,” Air Force spokesman Capt. Mark Graff told Scout Warrior.

Interoperability will be a key focus of upcoming exercises, Graff said – a comment of particular relevance in light of the fact that both Japan and South Korea are F-35 Foreign Military Sales customers; Japan already has an F-35 and deliveries to South Korea are slated for 2018.

Next-generation sensors, data-links and long-range targeting technology – engineered to work in tandem across a fleet of aircraft -  are precisely the kinds of interoperability demonstrations likely to be explored. In fact, given the F-35’s Distributed Aperture System sensor (DAS), an array of six cameras covering 360-degrees around the aircraft, and the F-35s long-range Electro-Optical Targeting Systems – the aircraft is uniquely suited for ISR and data-sharing missions alongside more traditional fighter jet operations.  

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/america-planning-show-north-korea-what-the-f-35-could-do-war-23371