The joke in the 1960s was that if the USAF built a runway so long it went all the way around the world, Northrop would make a plane that needed it.
Central design philosopy, which comes from the situation. Huge open spaces in the US, no history of territorial threat - huge runways, weak brakes.
Back when the UK had an independent aircraft industry - the Harrier. A tiny, crammed island with a history of devastating air raids begets a dispersible aircraft system that can operate from a farmer's field. Sweden - the Gripen, and its dispersible operations, simple maintenance, reinforced roads for takeoff and landing.
The US Marines requirements intersect with the more European restrictions and threats - so they got the Harrier and now the F-35B.