Posted on 02/17/2017 11:49:05 AM PST by CivilWarBrewing
During his speech before a large Boeing crowd in South Carolina today, President Trump said he is considering a large order for more F/A-18E/F Super Hornets!
IMO, the F/A-18 is the all-around greatest fighter jet ever produced. It has proven itself as a reliable and effective all-weather fighter and is a great complement to America's arsenal of F-15's, F-16's, F-22's, and F-35's.
You mean like the B-52 ?
More F22 Raptors too please!
Dittos..A-10s would provide the close air support required for jihadi extermination.
Anyone know if there’s a chance of restarting F22 production?
Like flying a bullet...
Yup, why not upgrade the A10? I’d rather have lots more F22s and A10s than F35s and no A10s.
The F35 is suited to fighting the Chinese or Russians in a large war. But that isn’t our most likely future scenario, which will be mostly CAS bombing the crap out of inbred muzzies.
My homeschool son (who loves airplanes and wants to be an aeronautical engineer) is working on a stock project and chose Boeing as one of his stocks to track. He is getting a great lesson in what affects the stock market, and I’m so glad his formative years will be FILLED WITH WINNING the way mine were under Reagan.
Lockheed threw the F16 under the bus to get the F35 hook deeper in the USAF’s jaw. After all, a dollar spent on F16s is a dollar not spent on the next new toy.
All those cans of whup ass just waiting to be used!
Somebody take a stick to the Air Force and beat the stupid out of’em.
The F-5 evolved from the T-38. The F-20 Tigershark was the next generation. The F-16 was chosen by the USAF instead. Only 3 were ever produced.
Iran actually developed and currently flies a newer version.
I have not kept up with the technical details of the various incarnations of the F5 and it’s descendants.
I have noticed each new generation of the aircraft etc. ever since I was a kid and Daddy worked at Eglin. I noticed the F5 and trainer versions and kept seeing it being developed in other newer models. I knew there was a direct lineage to the new Super Hornet.
Seen it said - not a chance in hell - would simply cost way too much, besides the F-22 does not have any heads up display which was promised decades ago. There are still a few other problems centering around maintenance issues last I heard.
>Seen it said - not a chance in hell - would simply cost way too much, besides the F-22 does not have any heads up display which was promised decades ago. There are still a few other problems centering around maintenance issues last I heard.
Stealth coatings just cost way too much and take constant attention. We’re better off with specially designed stealth craft and having separate planes with great performance as air superiority fighters. Trying to make all one in planes has has always been a disaster.
The cost argument for the F/A 18 is diminishing in that, with the F-35A now through the worst of its development issues, the single unit price is said to soon be about $80 million. Similar progress expected on the B and C models.
The best case for new F/A-18s is the Navy air fleet's shortfall in numbers and readiness. Stingy funding by Obama and delays in the F-35 program have led to both an ongoing lack of aircraft readiness and a deeper problem of declining numbers and inadequate remaining airframe lifecycle hours in the Navy's combat air fleet. When fully costed out, a tranche of new F/A-18s may be a better way to fill that gap than trying to update and remanufacture older aircraft already in inventory and well into their airframe lifetimes.
Moreover, it will probably be cheaper, easier, and better to equip new F/A 18s to work with F-35s than to upgrade older aircraft to do so. As good as the F-35 will be -- and it will be good -- working closely with compatible F/A-18s will, in most cases, make for a more potent combination than either aircraft type operating alone.
Pounded by Congress and the brute force of facts, the Air Force seems to recently be taking a better view of the A-10. Tests have also shown that its effectiveness is enhanced when operating in combination with the F-35. That strengthens the case for more life and more extensive upgrades for the current A-10 fleet.
Still build more - more 30 mm Gatling guns and more ability to deliver some heavy ordnance is ALWAYS a good thing. Better to have too many than not enough. The cost of new ones, plus the cost of upgrading the old ones, plus buying more F-18s, won’t come close to that of the F-35 - and will leave us VERY able to put the hurt on anyone out there. IOW, it’ll deter the sane (i.e. the Russkies and Chinese) and be very usable against the insane (pretty much any hostile Muzzie regime and the Norks).
actually yes
They may now be as different as the P-47 was from the seversky P-35
but there is a line of development, changing a little bit of the design at a time, starting with the N-300 (a high wing F-5)
The F-20 was never a competitor to the F-16 for US sales. It came later as an export alternative to the more expensive F-16.
Only evolutionary in that they both have wings.
The F-5 came first. It started the line that ended with the F/A-18.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.