Despite some chaff, this thread is turning out well so far. Interesting discussion.
Much of this discussion is purely academic. We cannot afford to fight all out wars. Like the poster above said, no invasive or existential wars can be allowed to happen in our current economic and political global landscape.
Air to air combat doesnt seem likely to happen for western air forces. Smaller air forces… not so unlikely. But you can never say never. the world is not a safe place.. yet.
In the large(st) picture, the smart thing to do is to have multiple smallish programmes. To keep the knowledge on how to build such things alive. They might be needed even if they aren’t now.
In the smaller, shorter picture I’d say a twin turboprop gunship is the way to go. A bushmaster in the side hatch and a couple tons of SDB’s to enable persistent kinetic effect from range/altitude that renders the crate untouchable to MANPADS and such. Backed up by a squadron of real jetfighters in case a real threat pops up.
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