F18 Hornet
Concept: 1973
Deployment: 1983
10 years
F15 Eagle
Concept: 1967
Deployment: 1976
9 years
F35 Lightning:
Concept: 1997
Deployment: 2018?
21 years AND COUNTING
Any questions?
Just one: why did you leave out the timeline for the F-22?
Not a fighter, but you also could have mentioned the timeline of the V-22 as well.
For three different aircraft that isn’t bad actually. That only seems long. That was the point of the article anyway.
VMFA-121 received its first F-35B in November 2012, well ahead of the Marine Corps’ announcement of initial operational capability for the program in July 2015. First Marine Corps F-35 Squadron Deploys to Japan. (Jan 2017)
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/01/10/first-marine-corps-f35-squadron-deploys-japan.html
You forgot the F 22 which is a superb plane already flying and discontinued.