Those same taxpayers are now asking Why didn’t we build more of them. At the time they seemed expensive but now they look like a bargain.

The “F” in F-117 was a lie and people had no problem accepting that. Why can’t they except it for the F-35? The “F” in F-35 is a political statement not a tactical one. Congress and the civilian leadership in the DOD demand multirole aircraft so the Air Force and Navy give them that with the “F” when in reality what…

Why would the Algerian Air Force buy both SU-24s and SU-34? It seems to me they both have the same mission but the 24 is old tech compared to the 34. Do you think the 24 is significantly cheaper?

No I have not. I spent 20 years supporting carrier based aircraft, 8 of that actually at sea.

As soon as I saw FA-XX I groaned, then I saw the picture and groaned again. Here we go again. The Navy needs an Air Superiority Fighter for Strike escort and Fleet Defence and they want to build another Multi-Mission aircraft. It seems the refuse to learn from the F-111 and the FA-18, and the F-35. Anyone can see that…

As I was watching the video and saw the Hornet carrying 2 air launched LRASM I was thinking, Hmm I think a Tomcat could carry 6 with drop tanks.

Warmed my cockles to see VF-211 (VFA-211 now) mixing it up with the 133rd Imperial Fighter Group.

The AWG-9 was a scanning Planar Phased Array RADAR that was in use on the F-14 Tomcat 45 years ago. It could track targets up to 95 degrees off boresight and had a longer range than this radar. In Track While Scan (TWS) it could track up to 24 targets and automatically prioritize them. In 1980 the APG-71 was put in…

By the way, Carriers were able to operate just fine with a mixed bag of mission dedicated aircraft. We carried component level replacement parts for 7 aircraft and the test equipment to support them on ships smaller than the current class of carriers. We maintained mission readiness rates of 85% and higher.…

You believe that we need the F-22 for Air superiority for the Air Force and I agree that we do. Given that then you have to understand that the Hornet does not offer the Navy the same capability as the F-22. That renders our Carrier strike groups unable to enter any airspace contested by the Chinese or the Russians.…

While I appreciate your view and agree with it for the most part I think it is based on the flawed assumption that the F-35 is truly flawed. My opinion is that the F-35 we have today is exactly the aircraft we ORIGINAL asked for. It was designed to be a Stealthy, Light Attack Aircraft with self-defense capability and…

“The NAVY was right to invest in the Super Hornet/Growler program.”

Have you ever worked on an Air Superiority Fighter or an Attack aircraft or have you ever had your life depend on it doing its job? I doubt it or you would have a completely different perspective.

The exact same comments were made about the F-22 and look at it now. Does anyone really think that the F-22 the best Air Superiority fighter in the world?

The F-35 was NEVER intended to replace the F-22, it was intended to be a stealthy medium attack aircraft to be used in conjunction with the F-22 providing air cover. The ability to carry Air to Air weapons is there to provide itself escort capability in lower threat areas that did not require the F-22 for escort.