Here's what pilots who've flown the F-35 have to say about the most expensive weapons project in history

According to Lockheed Martin, every F-35 pilot wears the Generation III helmet for each training exercise and operational mission.

The F-35's distributed aperture system (DAS), gives pilots the ability "look through" the airframe of the jet thanks to six infrared cameras mounted around the aircraft.

The DAS system is projected within the helmet mounted display (HMD) giving pilots visual scans of the battlespace with 20/40 clarity.

"If a pilot needs to he can look between his legs and see through the airplane. That's how extraordinary this aircraft is," Venable told Business Insider.

"Think of Wonder Womans' invisible airplane, that's exactly what this aircraft has the capability to do because of the HMD."

Pilots can also read their airspeed, altitude, targeting information, and threat warnings on the helmet's visor, giving them "unprecedented situational awareness," according to Lockheed Martin. 

"Pilots thrive with situational awareness aids. So as a pilot, if you can make it simple for me to detect the enemy that's great, and if you can make it simple for me to see the enemy that's even better," Venable told Business Insider.

"It does take a while to get use to the HMD, but as soon as you master that, it's one of the greatest gifts you can give a pilot."

What's more, the helmet also gives pilots night vision via an integrated camera.

According to the report, at full-rate production, the F-35A's are projected to cost between $80 million and $85 million. Currently, each F-35A costs approximately $100 million.

"If you compare the F-35 to other fighters, including the ones coming off of our domestic production lines, it's just an extraordinarily expensive art of building fighter jets," Venable told Business Insider.

However, as Venable notes in his report, the "F-35A and the other fighters may be comparably priced, but the F-35A is a full generation ahead of any other multirole fighter nearing production."

In the report, Venable has a breakdown of six aircraft comparing their price and capabilities.

"While the prices of these six fighters can be debated, none of the fourth-generation or four-plus-generation jets can compete with the air-to-ground capabilities of the F-35," Venable writes. 

Also, Venable adds, in terms of beyond-visual-range (BVR) situations, the F-35 is able to "locate and target every other combat-configured jet before their pilots become aware of the F-35's presence."

In short, while the F-35 is undoubtedly an expensive platform, it's more effective than any other four-plus-generation multirole fighter jets in the world.

When asked about restarting F-22 production, Venable responded, "could we do it? Yeah, but should we? That's a question that needs more research."

Last month, US Air Force General Hawk Carlisle said that restarting production of Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor would not only be time-consuming and costly, but would also take resources away from the F-35 program.

Venable described a few points where the F-35 is "leaps ahead of the F-22." Venable noted that the F-22 and F-35 have different designs with varying advantages.

"When the F-22 or the B-2 or the old F-17 fly their radar-absorbing skin, it's much more fragile and it takes a great deal of maintenance. The skin for the F-35 is way ahead of that. You don't have to park these aircraft in hangars and you could even try and take your heel and dig it into the skin of the F-35 and it won't harm the plane."

What's more, Venable said, "the sensor package inside the F-35 is the most advanced system to be fielded."

Meanwhile, restarting F-22 production would ultimately have to be decided by Congress.