Yep. But we must accept high-risk encounters ie lots of downed planes and dead pilots. However, making an airforce on the cheap, means we will have to re-manufacture lots of cheaply made Sopwith Camels and Spads - Gates knows what he is doing, doesn’t he?
Those pesky Flankers, PACs, SA 400, and Anti-Access weapons will never be able to detect our new WWI airforce.
When it comes, if it ever does, perhaps we can have US pilots wave pictures of the still-to-be-produced F35s at the opposition - sure to strike fear in their evil hearts.
Because realistically, F-35s are too overengineered to be produced in bulk, unless aircraft industries outside the United States were selected to license build the F-35, like the UK's BAe Systems or Italy's Alenia Aeronautica.
Those pesky Flankers, PACs, SA 400, and Anti-Access weapons will never be able to detect our new WWI airforce. Fighter pilots are a prized and precious commodity of any air force, and we need to make sure they are not needlessly sacrificed in action, because poorly skilled replacements will contribute to defeat, being unable to gain air superiority. It's the pilot who makes the difference, not just the plane, but how he/she handles it and exploits its strengths to the max. The Flankers, especially the new Su-35BM and lethal long range SAMs like the S-300 family make mincemeat out of legacy Gen 4 fighters. Truly, only the Raptor can defeat all these threats with comparative ease, and hold some ground of its own against the Gen 5 PAK FA.
SecDef Robert Gates is the #1 Master Chickenhawk (shhhhhhhh)
