[PAR35]

buy 200 f-18 jets at $70 million each or even 465 F-16 fighter jets at $29 million each

I wouldn't want to be around if the 16s or 18s decided to conduct operations from a Wasp class ship.

[Jim from C-Town]

I am just asking about cost effectiveness. If we desire more small air craft carriers, why such an incredibly expensive entirely new jet? What is wrong with stocking a small carrier with a proven aircraft that is less expensive. We already use Harrier jets that have operational capabilities that include hover and vertical take off and landing and they are orders of magnitude less expensive.

They also have computer systems and manufacturing that is already been debugged and proved in real World combat operations.

I am not being combative, I am being practical. At some point different and more expensive is not better. We also have an $18 trillion debt and a $200 trillion unfunded liability and a military budget under constraints.

It is difficult to take out 1 f-16, f-18, or Harrier. It is even more so to take out hundreds or even thousands, all of which can be procured at significantly lower cost than the f-35 program.