New fighter likely to land at S.C. bases

But a next generation replacement needs to be there to takeover eventually.

Shouldn’t that replacement be clearly better?
I’m not impressed at all with the different varients of this bird vis a vie the F-16.
Not that I’m the last word on it, of course.

Now, if you were to do a matchup with the F-22, I would be more so.

I actually enjoyed his posts, other than that area of disagreement. I particularly enjoyed the saga of the birds that were eating his expensive fish, and the solution he came up with for that.

The Australians are evaluating it for purchase, and in their simulations against Su-27 derivatives, it was, and I quote, "clubbed like a baby seal".

Complete and utter cr@p. We did NOT sim the SU-27 v F-35. Read the link below and learn.

http://www.t5c.biz/showthread.php?t=7923

Odd thing - a few year back, Singapore purchased a lot of Scooters (A4) and updated the cockpit electronics, swapped the engine for a -404 w/burner.

They wound up with about 90 - 95% of a new F-16 ( Block C0 for a fraction of the cost.

Why not take the -16s in inventory and upgrade the system to a F-16X (Falcon 2K) for a fraction of the cost.

For those not familiar with the F-16X F-16X Falcon 2000 In 1993 Lockheed Martin proposed development of a new version of the venerable F-16. This F-16X ‘Falcon 2000’ featured a delta-wing planform like that of the F-22; together with the fuselage stretch to accommodate the new wing design, the F-16X would have 80% more internal fuel volume. The design also permitted conformal carriage of the AIM-120 AMRAAM. LM claimed the F-16X could be built for two-thirds the cost of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

"Complete and utter cr@p. We did NOT sim the SU-27 v F-35. Read the link below and learn."

Uh, yes, it was simmed. Try providing something other than a web forum as proof otherwise. The only cheerleaders for this pig in a poke are USAF and LockMart. Everyone else sees it for what it is... a jobs program at the expense of our pilots and air wings.

The Australian Newspaper Link

Longtime defense aviation expert Bill Sweetman recognizes some of the problems as well.

Aviation Week criticism

And by the way, it's not as stealthy as advertised anyway.

Wired: Not So Stealthy

Last, here's a blog that actually matters on the subject, by a retired Naval Aviatior, with links to PDF studies from two defense think tanks that absolutely shred the F-35. They pick apart Northrop Grumman's ridiculous claim that it doesn't matter that rivals can outmaneuver the F-35, because NG's new sensors makes dogfighting "obsolete". This is the kind of stupidity that's going to get our pilots killed, and the study calls them on it.

Is the F-35 the next DDG-1000?

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