Originally Posted by
5spot
Not sure you could buy another AIRWING worth of Super Hornets. At the end of the day once you bolt on all of the pieces it has a pretty fat bill associated with it. Will you not be flying the Super Hornet until at least 2030 time frame as it is? Are they not still being built? Look man I LOVE the hornet. It has and continues to be a game changer but we still need to evolve. Like I keep saying the F-35 costs a ton. But at some point the US Military will HAVE to spend the money on something new. No matter what, it will be expensive. The F-35C is meant to compliment an Air Wing, not take it over. I believe the current plan would put 1 F-35C squadron in each Air Wing and by the time the Super Hornet becomes obsolete they will have the F/A-XX ready to go. Besides, the USN continues to throw a **** ton of money at the Super Hornet.
Why don't you engage in debate and not question my "Intellectual Honesty". There is nothing I have said that is "sunshine" pumping. I guess I am giving you a point of view you do not like to hear. But in the end, I'd take the Block II super hornet over the F-35, for the next 5 years. After that, no way.
Granted, the F-35 brings an amazing day one (and some limited follow on) capability but does the CVN really need it? If we're talking about knocking the door down in a triple digit SAM environment, that's the USAF bread and butter. An engagement of that scale isn't going to happen so quick that a carrier battle group has to be your first strike. Even so, how many stealth UCAVs can you shove on the boat that can carry as much if not more strike capability than the JSF, for the same amount of real estate?
The F-35 is a great idea on paper but horribly executed, and after the door is open you have a really REALLY expensive, marginally useful strike fighter when compared to the Super Hornet doing the same mission.
The program is going to bankrupt Naval Aviation, and those aren't my words, that's coming from more than a few patch wearing Flag Officers.