Everyone stand down,

Msphere is a long standing memeber with passionate views. Lets approach this intelligently.

Msphere explain how the F-35 at 80k is a bad fit for these missions:

1.Air policing, whether your intercepting bears, or a stealthy interception of an Iranian F-4 harassing your drones?
2. Scud/iskalander hunting?
3. Sead?
4. Pacific tac air, where basing versatility is a must? Because remember you may not have runways for the 1st hours.
5. Stand off maritime strike?
6. Bomb trucking in permissive air space? Because in a theoretical load out it beats most tactical fighters.

Do most nato countries even have an organic SEAD capability? If god forbid the flag goes up with a country with S-300s or advanced tacair, could 4.5 generation fighters even penetrate such air space? The new Tor-m1 fires on the move. Do you think your Rafael with 2 paltry stand off weapons, versus an F-35 with 8 sdb is a good sortie rate?
Could, and will Eurocanards be effective, in a Desert storm scud hunting scenario? You have to look at the history of conflicts to see why the USAF. Wants a stealthy fighter with net worked 360 degree sensors.

Package Q
The Ds1 scud hunt
F-18cs being shot down
Loss of F-117
British tornado losses in GW1
All factors influencing design.

Is school out?

No haavarla. The Chinese are the best at everything, because they are Chinese right?

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/politics/canada-election-2015-trudeau-scrap-f35-halifax-1.3235791

Canadian politicians threaten to scrap F-35

I wish they would get on with it. We could offer there workshare to India.

The exact package Q scenario today? No it wont.

Pick a pair of Tornados (Hornets, Eagles, whatever), four Taurus LFK, shoot them 200 km´s inside Saudi Arabia, go home. Twenty five minutes later, one and a half tons of high explosive arrives at a great big FIXED target outside Baghdad and blows the place to pieces, few minutes later a recon satelite confirms it, the end.
Did i forget to mention that the cost of ATOG PGM´s have been steadily declining for the last three decades?

Cheers

What If I need to hit a HAS from the opposite side of my approach? What if I need to hit the bunker or tunnel entrance? How about putting weapons through a vent or precise in a bunker?
Do you realize places like Hainan island are fortresses?

Im making the point that exspensive cruise missiles have a niche.

Btw another F-35 hit piece is out on war is boring.

Of all the services, I dont get why the USN doesn’t get this? You would think that with limited space on a ship, you would try and hit a target with less assets if you can help it. A target that can be hit with a 4 ship of F-35C would likely need:
4-6 F-18E because fighters manuvering when shot at drop stores resulting in mission kill.
2 or more growlers
2+ buddy tankers

We are already at a 10 plane package compared to a 4 ship. Its likely more if there is significant red air.
I don’t think the Navy bean counters have realized this.

Spud in your own terms if you compare the top tac-air penetrating strikers, on a 1st day package Q senario, HOW would you rate Block 4 F-35?

Versus:
Llol latest deployed version of SH
The Rafael
F-15E
Advanced F-16
Im interested in your candor.
If you had to Go down town hit a target
Within 500nms but su-27s are on standby its day light. lest even assume
SAMs wont be tracking like package Q until.the 1st bombs fall (for fear of HARM) in order to give the 4 gens a chance.
SAMS Lock and start tracking on egress. Your planes are a 4 ship, any package youd like.