BF2S Forums The Joint Strike Fighter made its maiden flight today.

Nice! Hopefully it will be in the next Battlefield

Warlord wrote:

2tuff wrote:

Nice! Hopefully it will be in the next Battlefield

It already is ...

Yes, the F-35B. There's 3 variants of the Joint Strike Fighter:

* F-35A, a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant slated to replace U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-16 Fighting Falcons, beginning in 2011.
* F-35B, a short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant slated to replace the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) AV-8 Harrier IIs and F/A-18 Hornets, and Royal Air Force (RAF)/Royal Navy (RN) Harrier GR7/GR9s beginning in 2012.
* F-35C, a carrier-based variant slated to replace U.S. Navy (USN) F/A-18 Hornets (A/B/C/D variants only) beginning in 2012.

Fancy_Pollux wrote:

Warlord wrote:

2tuff wrote:

Nice! Hopefully it will be in the next Battlefield

It already is ...

Yes, the F-35B. There's 3 variants of the Joint Strike Fighter:

* F-35A, a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant slated to replace U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-16 Fighting Falcons, beginning in 2011.
* F-35B, a short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant slated to replace the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) AV-8 Harrier IIs and F/A-18 Hornets, and Royal Air Force (RAF)/Royal Navy (RN) Harrier GR7/GR9s beginning in 2012.
* F-35C, a carrier-based variant slated to replace U.S. Navy (USN) F/A-18 Hornets (A/B/C/D variants only) beginning in 2012.

Whoop.

Major.League.Infidel wrote:

That much money for a plane is just stupid.  No other remotely hostile or unfriendly nation out there can cope with our military (Grabs flameshield), and our current models are still doing fine.  If we upgraded the stuff we have (See: AH-1Z/UH-1Y) they'd be much cheaper, and still as effective.

quick! nobody tell him the F-22 costs around $255 million!

Anyways, current plane models are doing fine right now. What about in the year 2012 though? think into the future and then you'll see that an upgrade needs to be made as most of the US fighters were originally built in the 1970's.

Fancy_Pollux wrote:

Exactly. The JSF is easier to mass produce and sell. The U.S. is expected to have 2,400 of them by 2027.

You have to figure though, the F-35 is meant to be taking the role of mainly ground support with some air to air fighting while the F-22 is meant to be the best air superiority fighter. It all depends on how much air superiority means to you. In my opinion $255 million is worth air superiority and as time goes on the costs will go down.

Pernicious544 wrote:

Major.League.Infidel wrote:

That much money for a plane is just stupid.  No other remotely hostile or unfriendly nation out there can cope with our military (Grabs flameshield), and our current models are still doing fine.  If we upgraded the stuff we have (See: AH-1Z/UH-1Y) they'd be much cheaper, and still as effective.

quick! nobody tell him the F-22 costs around $255 million!

Anyways, current plane models are doing fine right now. What about in the year 2012 though? think into the future and then you'll see that an upgrade needs to be made as most of the US fighters were originally built in the 1970's.

They upgrade them all the time as it is ... The A-10 is a classic example. It's ugly, but well hung as the pilots who fly them like to say. It would be tough to make another flying tank like that in my opinion ... Especially at the going rate of a new jet now.

A-10 price tag = US $9.8 million in 1998 ... you can basically buy a fleet of A-10's for the price of one new F-35, F-22.

~ W

Major.League.Infidel wrote:

That much money for a plane is just stupid.  No other remotely hostile or unfriendly nation out there can cope with our military (Grabs flameshield), and our current models are still doing fine.  If we upgraded the stuff we have (See: AH-1Z/UH-1Y) they'd be much cheaper, and still as effective.

Last night, Australias Defence Force Aquisition guys announced they would get 100 F-35's to replace our F-111s and our F/A-18s. Our F-18s are over 20 years old and our F-111s over 30. That's why they need replacing.


Mcminty.

No, I know about the price of the F-22.  And my Friend, a Colonel in the Air Force is in charge of one of the first F-15 wings that will be switching over.  And in regards to 2012?  Some 3rd world country, or even a major one like Iran or NK won't have developed a fighter that can cope with current day F-16's and F-15's by then.  It's a waste of money that could easily be spent on more important stuff.  And the F-35 is hardly a ground superiority aircraft, as it doesn't have the capacity (due to internal bomb bays) to carry enough ordnance to be a lasting threat.  It's also a similar problem the F-22 faces.  I'm all for stealth, but in the meantime, the USMC gets 4% of the defense budget.  The Army plays with lasers and the Landwarrior System, while the USMC gets to use whatevers left over.

It's no wonder the US deficit is where it is too ....

» American Tax Dollars Hard @ work ...

~ W

Last edited by Warlord (2006-12-15 13:38:12)

Major.League.Infidel wrote:

No, I know about the price of the F-22.  And my Friend, a Colonel in the Air Force is in charge of one of the first F-15 wings that will be switching over.  And in regards to 2012?  Some 3rd world country, or even a major one like Iran or NK won't have developed a fighter that can cope with current day F-16's and F-15's by then.  It's a waste of money that could easily be spent on more important stuff.  And the F-35 is hardly a ground superiority aircraft, as it doesn't have the capacity (due to internal bomb bays) to carry enough ordnance to be a lasting threat.  It's also a similar problem the F-22 faces.  I'm all for stealth, but in the meantime, the USMC gets 4% of the defense budget.  The Army plays with lasers and the Landwarrior System, while the USMC gets to use whatevers left over.

China and Russia. And China will be getting expansionist, a lot of people up high in there government think of the Chinese in the same way Hitler thought of the Germans, but thats for another topic.

2027? Damn.

Warlord wrote:

They upgrade them all the time as it is ... The A-10 is a classic example. It's ugly, but well hung as the pilots who fly them like to say. It would be tough to make another flying tank like that in my opinion ... Especially at the going rate of a new jet now.

A-10 price tag = US $9.8 million in 1998 ... you can basically buy a fleet of A-10's for the price of one new F-35, F-22.

~ W

A whole fleet of cheaper A-10s would be great, but they wouldn’t last long up against a Mig-29 or an SU-27.  Even though it’s unlikely another country will develop aircraft that improve over our F-15s and F-16s, I’d rather stay ahead of, rather than keep up with, the curve in military innovation.  Then enemy air force doesn’t even want to try to take air superiority.