Posted on 02/25/2021 4:07:10 PM PST by maddog55
That should be one of the use cases of any new fighter design, to know that it eventually will be supplanted by some future new whizbang cheap fighter but we can flood the export market with these things and there will be spare parts for 2 generations, like Jeeps. So when we need to blow up bunch of camel jockeys but don’t wanna expend our shiny new expensive toys, we can always just go back to the old tooling. That’s where the A4 is now.
Not just stealthy, the F-35 also has comprehensive flight, communication, battle management, and sensor fusion software and capabilities that make flying and fighting the F-35 easier and more lethal to the enemy than any predecessor. When an F-35 pilot looks for enemy aircraft or missiles or radar threats, he sees them as icons in his helmet display when he looks in their direction -- even if he is looking at the floor of his cockpit.
Comprehensive cameras and sensors in the F-35 detect the threats and a computer shows them in the pilot's helmet HUD. With extended range missiles, in test engagements, the F-35 usually sees enemy fighters first and shoots them down before even being seen. The F-35 does not so much dogfight as kill its opponents as they go looking for the fight.
And each F-35 can report the details of what it sees and does to other nearby aircraft and to HQs. In tests, flights of F-35s not only consistently kill their opponents and accomplish their mission, but they usually do so without loss.
The Israelis lobbied hard and got their own software and weapons incorporated into their conventional takeoff land F-35s. As the Israelis pointed out, that would yield an aircraft better suited to their needs. If events with Iran take the course they seem set upon, with Saudi permission and assistance, Israeli F-35s may soon pound Iran's nuclear program into rubble and redeem the F-35's reputation.
During WW II, the P-51 and B-29 went from failure to success through the development process. The US knows how to design and build first rate combat aircraft. And the F-35 will soon be recognized as one of them.
The Israelis also have deconfliction arrangements with the Russians. So tell me... are you absolutely sure the F-16 would survive if the S-400 coverage was fully active and not just covering areas sensitive to the Russians?
Add in that the Israelis are F-35 users and it would seem that the IAF thinks there are places in Syria too risky for the Viper.
Can’t recall whatever it wasn’t our state of the art
At least upgrade to the AT-6B Wolverine.
And a huge supply of replacement parts!
That is the Biden Economy
See Cuba...
The F20 used some of the F5 design. It was a terrific aircraft and is listed as one of the best designs to never see full production.
It was a solid combat aircraft. It just lost out to a really solid plane that will be flying for another 30 years somewhere in the world. If memory serves, the Tigershark outperformed the F16 in a few areas, but its hard to argue with the history of the Fighting Falcon.
See my earlier post. The F15EX is pretty amazing, but it is only 20 million cheaper per copy (20% reduction) and it cost about 10k less an hour to operate using Boeing’s rosy sales pitch.
I am a huge F15 fan and it is one of the greatest aircraft in history, maybe #1 in many respects, but our Air Force needs to be prepared for a near peer adversary so having the stealth capability of a 100 million dollar plane with a 33% increased operating costs is worth the extra expense over an 80 million dollar aircraft that still cost a lot to operate.
The F35 is an easy target. Politics, most expensive program, and lots of “evil contractors”. I was skeptical from the beginning, but as an aviation nerd who has followed it, the aircraft would knock the stuffing out of a near peer adversary. Total domination.
Can’t ask for much more than that. Combined with the F22, we are guaranteed air superiority for a long time with pretty good strike capability and survivability in heavily contested airspace.
The future of air combat will eventually belong to drones, but I suspect the F35 will be around for a long time. It is having the same growing pains of every other program in USAF/USN history.
I heard a talk from the F-35 program administrator in 1990 give or take a year.
It’s aiming to replace the A10? I don’t see where it’s superior.
https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/6-wolverine-light-attack-aircraft/
Never will be able to replace the A-10. But the AF wanted to ditch the A-10 since its only use is to put pilots at risk to save GI lives plus it doesn’t go fast enough for the zoomers. The only folks that liked the A-10 were the ground troops. They should have been turned over to the Army.
I guess I can’t figure out why the zoomers think they need a new fighter. I could see a supersonic P.1154 Harrier taking on a few of the roles that F16s and F18s cannot do (such as carrier operations or even taking on some pads where helicopters operate) but I don’t see where they are going with this.
Hawker Siddeley P.1154
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_P.1154
A 60 year old proposal that was superseded by the obsolete Harrier. If you want to go that far back, there’s the XV-4A. I knew a guy whose father was killed by one.
The Harrier was never obsolete until recently, and even then the zoomers are reluctant to use the F35 in the close air support role because it’s so expensive.
It was NOT designed as an air-air fighter. But it has an undefeated air-air kill ratio second only to the F15.
It beat out F15s at 3:1 in air exercises, beat out F16s at 2:1. That’s like saying my delivery truck can beat your dragster —let’s see your dragster deliver groceries.
Design a supersonic p.1154 with today’s technology and it will fill roles the F16, F18, and F22 cannot fill, such as carrier operations and operating from remote or destroyed airfields. If they keep VIFFing, it’ll continue to have a tighter turning radius than all of them.
XV4 never went into production.
Neither did the 1154. The problems with XV-4A were 1) lack of available power and 2) inability of the pilot to keep up with the plane. Which in the first case could be addressed by modern engines and in the second by computer assistance.
In either event, all that would translate forward would be the concept - either would need a clean - sheet design.
But the Harrier DID. The p.1154 was just a Harrier with an afterburner.
We’d be building on top of the second most successful undefeated air platform in jet air-air combat. And this time it would be designed as a fighter rather than a bomber.
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