Russia’s New Air Force Is a Mystery (Why is Moscow buying three very similar jet fighters?)

War is Boring ^ | 02/24/2014 | Thomas Newdick

[doorgunner69]

Excellent article, thanks.

Always admired the SU-27 and derivatives. The Russians know how to get the mileage out of their designs.

[ro_dreaming]

ImJustAnotherOkie wrote:

Since our military is being secretly dismantled, our spending priorities cannot be compared to a nation that values self defense.

What secret? You just have to read the papers to see another Navy Commander/Captain being run out of the service, Marine officers “asked” to retire/resign, Army officers being retired, and Air Force officers being “RIF”ed, military hardware being cut, retired, sold off as scrap, or just left to abandon. It’s not a secret - to anyone willing to actually read some news, rather than just the fishwrap printed in most cities.

[GeronL]

to the question in the title:

Why is the US buying different versions of the F-35?

[PIF]

Given the radical downsizing of the mil and given the extreme price - I bet it will be more like 100 with 10 operational at any given time.

[Jet Jaguar]

Bump

[Yo-Yo]

Anyone who believes this is smoking something. I’ll bet we ultimately buy less than 1000 F-35s. Maybe a lot less.

Why do you say that? Didn't we purchase all 750 F-22s as originally planned?

[rbg81]

So, let’s see:

— F22: Planned = 750; Procured = 187 (25%)
— B-2: Planned = 132: Procured = 20 (15%)
— B-1: Planned = 244; Procured = 100 (41%)
— Seawolf sub: Planned = 29; Procured = 3 (10%)

There are plenty of other examples where the DoD procured a lot less of a weapons system than initially planned.

The only thing that may save the F-35 is the massive level of international participation. The F-22 didn’t have this; in fact, its export was banned. That being said, the F-35 seems like a POS—at least initially. The technical problems that it is having is nothing short of stunning. Go figure.