Sounds great, but just wondering why everyone doesn’t have them already, seeing as the technology is well-established by now, and why there are still so many manned aircraft – fixed wing and rotary – doing CAS in Afghanistan?

Well its just a matter of time in my opinion, the RAF are forming a second squadren for reapers in 2012 and are increasing there fleet from 3 to 10. also Reapers arnt very expensive compaired to say a tornado or a F-16. i wouldnt be suprised if this trend continues. in ten years time i’d expect the RAF to operate about 40 Reaper type craft.

i was under the impression that the F-35 was designed to from the start to have pretty low maintenance cost, with the 3 types of aircraft sharing 80% of components, there certainly wont be a shortage of parts and with them being made in such numbers i imagine that will bring the cost down. also i have read that there are plans for common maintenance sites shared between partner nations and that maintenance of the stealth features will be much lower that the raptor. whether any of this will come to fruition though is anybodies guess.

with regards to the rafale being cheaper, it would have to produce a saving of at least 2.5 billion before its even on par as that is the amount that the UK has invested in the research and development. granted i know that they will still get a work share of the f-35 even if they pull out but the general public will still see it as throwing more money away so i cannot see them switching to the rafale if I’m honest.

i wouldn’t be surprised if we get a limited number of F-35C for now and at a later date there was a purchase of the A or B model.

plus the typhoon and the rafale are very similar why not buy a plane that offers something a little different!

brimstone on reapers! if they have enough of them they could literally have one circling above each patrol/trouble spot. they fast jets on stand by for when bigger hitters are needed.

or a really far fetched idea that makes sense to me…. if you have total air control like Afghanistan. unmanned blimps stationed at extreme height with some sort target able GPS bombs maybe a derivative of the small diameter bomb. something that can be dropped from height and glide itself onto a target. I’m sure people will pick holes in my idea lol that’s why i wont even get started on unmanned tankers

Bloodshot :

Well , most SU-35 and Rafale ‘s drivers will disagree with that . Foxbats , Mig-31s and M2000 ‘s drivers might also have their words here …
My personal opinion is that the Typhoon is a souped-up M2000 even if it ‘s based on an average design with some obvious mistakes wrt aerodynamics , AtoG role (lack of heavy wet points) and overall discretion (lacking in RCS , EMCON and electronical means) .

Cheers .

now that’s just trolling!!

Again your making claims, you say that it has mistakes with regards to aerodynamics, but it is generally known to have fantastic performance and handling abilities, ok the rafale may or may not be a little bit more agile at very slow speeds but the typhoon is superior higher up, so does that mean that the rafales aerodynamics are floored or that they were designed for different purposes?

also you don’t know the typhoon or the for that matter rafales RCS or Electronic systems to make claims that one is better than another because that information isn’t in the public domain.

i think the rafale is a good aircraft. very similar ability wise to the typhoon. weather u like it or not it is not a generation ahead. its actualy quite insulting that you suggest other country are only smart enough to build equipment that france built 30 years ago.

ahh but if a pilot in air cosmos is the basis for rafale fans to state they have the best aircraft in A2A …. Surely this is a sufficent counter arguement to prove otherwise!?

I say ditch the F35 altogether and pour all your money in an omnirole (:D) Typhoon and a very good strike UCAV.

Nic

lol i bet you do but i still expect the F-35 to be the best strike aircraft in the world in the future which no doubt will also be contested by our gaulish neighbours 😀

well it might not be very useful at the moment but in the future maybe with the introduction of conformal fuel tank and possible weapons pod ( i know there is no plan for these but you never know) im thinking along the lines of the later block F-16s. the aircraft my become heavier and gain more drag, so maybe the extra trust could be exploited to maintain the performance?