It is actually not in serious trouble (at least not anymore). Both the US Marines and and Airforce have operational squandrons of F-35's... which means they are ready to go to war.  There is no other Western block plane that comes remotely close to its capabilities. While Trudea might really not want to buy the plane... it's pretty much the only serious game in town. When the GOA warned the F-35 may not reach its full combat capability in 2018... that's kind of silly misnomer.  The computer that aims the gun hasn't been fully updated... but that isn't remotely critical... in fact, the plane will likely never use its gun to begin with.  Another "problem" is that the B-model (which Canada isn't even considering) has to move some clamps in its bombays to fit a full compliment of 8 small diameter bombs. All the important issues were resolved when the Airforce reached IOC... everything else is just gravy.