Originally Posted by
BoilerUP
How much cheaper is a Block 70 Viper or Super Hornet compared to a 15EX or F35?
Yeah 5th gen are the bees knees, but quantity has its own quality...especially if involved in a CAS mission.
I don't see Fat Amy doing anything for troops in contact other than dropping JDAMs from above 10k.
Block 70 Vipers and Super Hornets come in at ~$65M each, while an EX and a Panther are about the same ~$85-90M each. I think your comments above are right on… we need quality and quantity, with a healthy mix of both 4th and 5th Gen to cover the full spectrum of warfare. The F-35 does a lot of things very well, and couldn’t agree more that CAS (at least low threat, COIN style CAS) isn’t one of them. I hope we buy a bunch of Block 70’s and EX’s personably… basically 5th Gen bells and whistles in 4th Gen body.