• @[email protected]
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      -48 months ago

      That’s the general feeling from people in allied countries that have been put on the F-35 program.

      Other fighters could have been a better match, instead they got the expensive Letherman.

      • BombOmOm
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        8 months ago

        Which fighter is a better match than an F-35 if you want stealth? (If you don’t want stealth, you aren’t looking at a F-35) The A model is damn nice for most, and the B model wipes the floor with the VTOL competition. There is damn good reason over 1,000 of these have been produced already and orders keep coming in.

        • @[email protected]
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          -38 months ago

          I don’t doubt that F-35 has some good stats, I am looking at this from a more general perspective, what I have seen is that because F-35 costs substantially more than other fighters this limits countries that does not have a US level defense budget on how many planes they can afford, for example instead of 50 F-16 they end up with 10-20 F-35.

          And by looking at those numbers it seems like they get less defense for the same amount even if F-35 is better than the alternatives.

          • @[email protected]
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            98 months ago

            From what I’ve seen, the F-35 defeats enemy F-16s because of its advanced sensors. Mostly it’s firing missiles at things beyond visual range. Plus it has stealth capabilities that avoid detection and retaliation.

            It’s worth the cost because you lose fewer experienced pilots, which are the real bottleneck for an air force.

          • BombOmOm
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            8 months ago

            Yeah, if a country doesn’t need stealth, they really shouldn’t be purchasing stealth. Most countries will probably want a mix of both. Stealth for air dominance and heavily-contested, high-value strikes, and fourth generation air frames to provide bulk ordnance delivery.

            With the exception of VTOL, in which the F-35B is the only reasonable option, even if you don’t need stealth.