The nice thing about the public scrutiny of the F-35 program, is all this normally-classified capability information that's released out to the public to get them excited about the project. Such level of publicity of cutting edge weapon systems simply didn't exist a decade ago.
I doubt that. To take advantage of a drone's capabilities you'd have to start from ground zero. Eventually they'll make a pilotless version the way they have pilotless F-16s. So the newer planes have something to shoot at.
It is cutting edge from an operational perspective. You normally want to keep the precise capabilities of weapon systems hidden from adversaries for as long as possible, as knowing these make countering the systems much easier - but not in the case of the F-35; testing information, development progress, flight envelope and technologies are routinely discussed.
