The F-35 can be sold to Foreign countries, but we can sell them F-15’s for more and the F-35 production line is pretty maxed out. It would be Hilarious if we sold a stripped down F-15EX’s to Viet Nam to tweak China.
People that want to fight at long range want two engines. It can carry 22 Air to air missiles so only a cheapskate is going to lose a dog fight.
Also, When Trump talked about “Hypersonic missiles” he was talking about missiles like the 1000 mile range stand off AGM-183 that the EX can carry.
China would be way more scared of an F-15 loaded with 6 AGM-183’s than it would be of an F-35 and its stealth. Most of the Websites discussing the AGM-183 seem to be in Chinese.
Our media never took Trump seriously, but China’s does.
Fine
Sell the f15s to others
It doesnt mean we should buy them in place of f35s