“The F-35 is the new F-16”
Thrust to weight, F16 1.095, F-35 Moonpig .87
Wing loading, F16 .87, F-35 Moonpig 107.7
Speed, F16 Mach2, F-35 Moonpig Mach 1.6
Armament F15 511 rounds of 20mm
F-35 Moonpig 180 rounds of 25mm,
So yeah, other than top speed, acceleration, turning rate and climb rate and around a third of the ammo. Its totally an F-16.
The F-35 is far less of a fighter OR attack aircraft than the F-16 from the late 70s.
But it does have an electronics suite to die for!
Here’s another thing you left out regarding the F-35: the Navy version has such limited range, that our aircraft carriers will have to put themselves at the risk of land-to-sea missiles to launch their F-35s.
Who even needs aircraft carriers anyway!
I understand bias, however, let’s try to keep things in perspective when comparing aircraft to aircraft...even if they’re ~40 years apart in design.
There are other notable differences between the two to include; stores weight, internal fuel quantity and the mission systems capability of each aircraft...
The F16 gives up 2 wing stations to 370g fuel tanks and a centerline station for either fuel or EW pod.
The F35 does neither...~18k in internal fuel to the F16s ~7k and EW capability is integrated into the aircraft’s avionics & mission systems.
In addition, the F35 has EOTS for precision [not GPS] guided weapons...read F117 type or better capability.
So from a performance point of view, yes, the F35 is lacking...but again, what are we really trying to compare?
Performance [speed] or actual capability to kick the doors down [stealth/accuracy]?
If one has worked around “fighters” for any length of time, there are always going to be trade offs in certain areas.