Oh..! Their real defense needs are so urgent and pressing and their budgetary constraints so sharp that they’ll just go and develop their own stealth fighter, huh?
They’ll do alllll that, from the ground up in uh....say...15 years minimum @ a price 4x what they might pay the USA for the F-35....?
Sorry but that just DOES NOT compute at all.
I must be missing something.
This sounds even more stupid that the whole F16/FSX thing with Japan 20 years ago.
They say “procurement” so presumably this means FMS...?
I sure hope so cuz the clock is TICKING.
Maybe they’ll buy them frm China........
One could counter that they probably COULD design, develop, and build their own stealth fighter before the F-35 enters service....and probably a better and cheaper plane.