Originally Posted by
HuggyU2
It's really eye opening to talk to a knowledgeable F-35 pilot like the one I met recently. I won't write a lengthy post about it, but the capes are really out of this world. If and when it all begins to work, it has the potential to be a game changer.
It simply boils down to cost: can we afford it? Or should I say... do we need to afford it?
Every time I've ready something in the press directly related to my area of expertise, I'm ****ed off at how inaccurate the article is, and how the author spun it to something it is not.
So when I read about something I do not know much about (like the F-35), I have to figure that Joe-sh!t-the-reporter has completely dorked up the facts. I'm guessing he wouldn't know a data link from a sausage link.
Take it with a grain of salt.
Talking with the guys at VPS, they say the same thing. When fully mature the thing will be freakin' klingon-cloaking-device-star-wars-laser-beam-death-from-above-super-100%-SA.
As a fighter, they have some not so nice things to say. "All the thrust of a Hornet with all the alpha of a Viper" is what I hear over and over again.
You're right, for the money what could we have done instead to current platforms?