Posted on 11/08/2010 9:35:25 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
to buy new aircraft designs (because they are too expensive, or simply take too long to get into service), and facing the prospect of unmanned aircraft (UAVs) displacing more and more manned ones, the American military is spending a growing chunk of its budgets on upgrading and refurbishing the combat aircraft they already have. This was not a deliberate, long term plan, but simply a reaction to shortages of new aircraft. A lot of the new electronics and weapons involved in these upgrades can also equip UAV designs still in development, so such efforts are a double win. More and more, it looks like the new 36 ton F-22 and 27 ton F-35 are the end of the road for manned fighter-bombers. Not just because the F-22 and F-35 cost so much to develop, but because so much new tech has arrived on the scene that it simply makes more military, and economic, sense to go with unmanned aircraft. Meanwhile, the existing F-15's F-16s, F-18s, A-10s and all American heavy bombers are being equipped with new targeting pods and combat Internet connections, along with new radars and all sorts of electronics. Older aircraft are having worn out structural components rebuilt or replaced. This buys time until the unmanned aircraft are ready. F-35s will also fill the gap, which may be a very small one.
The Navy’s first stealth fighter arrived here at Patuxent River on Saturday the 6th.
Not much fanfare.
The mega-tech, giga-mega priced, fifth-gen, air-superiority, human-piloted fighter is little more than a magnificent anachronism, a Noble Steed for today’s Chivalrous, Frivolous Knight of the Air. Ready, willing, and able to re-win World War II all over again, but too expensive, valuable, vulnerable, and rare to actually forward-deploy to the same backward, uncivilized continent that my National Guard daughter often inhabits.
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