Attention F-4 Phantom fans

[DicedT]

It's a pleasure to get comments from someone knowledgeable, GDS Starfury. It's how I learn things. We'll just agree to disagree. The way the world is, at some point, the F-35 will be used in combat by the U.S. or its allies. We'll see how it goes.

Michael

[GDS_Starfury]

I would also submit that the F-35 will not be going it alone in a combat setting.  its important to know how the US military is going to slot this plane into operations.  awacs, satellites, uavs, remote sensors, ground and sea based sensors and weapons... the list goes on.  it will not be the plane that sallys forth over the front line in 2 ship formations looking for trouble harking back to the dawn patrols of WW1 and WW2. 
I think the project as a whole has been a mess of management and shifting requirements that has not been helpful at all.  I also think its a huge mistake to not have allowed some of our closest allied the chance to buy the full up version of the plane.  it just pissed them off and further drove up the cost.  the Marine version is just stupid.  if they want their own air so bad then they should stick with their F-18s and eventually shift to Navy version F-35s.

[mirth]

I disagree with you on the value of a VTOL/VSTOL version for the Marines. The Harrier has been very effective for them operating off their baby carriers and from forward airbases. It's a great capability to have.

I think the mistake is trying to come up with a one-size fits all aircraft for all 3 services. The requirements for each are too disparate.

[DicedT]

Again, I'm dubious about forward deployment of a $150 million. If the Taliban had blown up eight F-35s instead of Harriers a few months ago, it would have been a propaganda coup.

V/STOL might make sense for a cheap aircraft, but cheap and V/STOL seems to be an oxymoron. Another reason why having a separate Marine Air Force is not a good idea.

Michael

[mirth]

Blowing up the Harriers was a propaganda coup because it was a sizeable percentage of the total Harrier force. It was a very big deal.

V/STOL does tend to be expensive, but I imagine it's worse when you try to shoehorn it in an airframe that is supposed to be a stealthy, air superiority, ground-attack, carrier-capable aircraft.