Originally Posted by
TransWorld
Well, I appreciate the idealism. I doubt the government has learned its lesson. Think about what has happened in the past. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it...especially when politics are involved.
DoD will push back hard. Next-gen fighters are already being planned.
USN/USMC will be about what you'd expect, 6th gen: better than the last one but still recognizable for what it is. The need to operate off ships imposes some specific limitations.
USAF has gone off the pavement, off the soft-shoulder, through the fence and appears to be off-roading. They're considering revolutionary new air-dominance concepts which may rely very heavily on things which are not traditional fighters. They're talking about a series of rapidly evolving aircraft types, kind of like the cold-war century-series. Rather than get locked into particular technology/platform for 30+ years, they intend to be able to rapidly develop and build entirely new models as technical advances and evolving requirements dictate. Going to be interesting.