I took his quotes about how the F-35 is now a high end boutique plane instead of the replacement for everything. The Air Force changed the F-35's designation, which the author takes as a tacit admission of failure. How else would you read the Air Force's statement? "That plane that was supposed to replace all our planes will only replace a few of our planes. We need a new plane to replace all the rest."

David Axe (the Forbes author) has been gunning for this aircraft for years. This article is junk.

It's an inference. The author is saying that because the Air Force is pursuing a new plane with the same fundamental goals that launched the F-35 program, then the F-35 evidently failed to deliver. He's saying they're really just asking for a do-over.

> Instead of ordering fresh F-16s, he said, the Air Force should initiate a “clean-sheet design” for a new low-end fighter. Brown’s comments are a tacit admission that the F-35 has failed.

(Emphasis mine. Tacit means "implied without being stated".)

I cannot find any other sources on this topic.