[Yo-Yo]

The STOVL variant is to replace the Harrier for the Marines and the Royal Navy. I can't imagine why the Air Force would want to take the huge hit in lost payload and reduced loiter time compared to the CTOL variant.

The Marines and Royal Navy operate from small carriers with no catapult or arresting capability, hence the need for STOVL.

And God help the Air Force if they successfully kill off the A-10. The F-35 cannot duplicate that mission any more than the F-16 could, STOVL or CTOL variants.

[jer2911tx]

the f-35 will be a very good all-around workhorse....
but the f/a-22 is simply the most awesome jet fighter ever produced and will dominate the next few generations of fighters

/engineer on f/a-22

[ChinaThreat]

I think the USAF is looking at future campaign scenarios where we may need to stage significant numbers of ground attack aircraft with limited runway access. This lesson was learned in Iraq with the Saudi's reluctance to let us stage our attack aircraft on their soil. If it wasn't for Qatar we would have had significant troubles.

Our AF is going to be significantly reduced. A couple of wings of F-22's to provide air dominance, a lot of JSF wings to replace the aging fleet of F-16S, more B-2s. These will hold us over until we start producing the new generation of pilotless attack craft. The Buffs and the Warthog will be around for awhile.