Let’s have a forum poll.

Who do you believe?

(a) Bill Sweetman

(b) Scooter

(c) Neither.

I believe USAF, RAF and a host of other Air Forces who believe in the capabilities of the Lockheed Martin F 35 and has committed their future strike force to the same. I believe the countless scientists and researchers working for them (The Airforces and their tech evaluation committees etc) over any single journo however good his reputation. 🙂

So the answer is b. 🙂

i had this doubt on F-35. will it ever be offered for license production to countries like India?. why only the partner countries are allowed license produce? Is it like F-35 tech is too sensitive to be license produced by other countries?, this could be an imp factor in case of India, but we are unlikely to acquire large no. of fighters or any kind of arms without license production.

The Navy will not require a large contingent of F 35s anyway it is much better to buy small numbers off the shelf. 😉

No they are merely stating the abilities, see that all terms used are generic, there is no specefic name for any component given.:)

Seriously, you really think that a bunch of politicians saying something is the defining word…lord help us. My apologies if the above is sarcasm, it just don’t appear to be tho.

The point is that whether it is VLO or not is not even debated in congress. The USAF, the Congress and the U.S govt along with the likes of other governments are convinced that it is VLO.

I really think they know better than any aviation journo or freelance scientist. Because I am sure that the USAF has consulted 10X better experts before their decision. 😎
For us enthusiasts Bill Sweetman may be a god, (I really like his articles to be honest) but do I take him over USAF ?? who can hire the best interms of assessing their inventory and needs. The answer is no.

MCA Brochure/

From Shiv Aroor’s ‘Live Fist’

http://livefist.blogspot.com/2009/02/drdos-medium-combat-aircraft-mca.html

See the classification as VLO. 🙂 even the congress says its VLO so that kind of settles the argument in another thread whether its LO or VLO.

I think it was morroco who wanted to upgrade their F1s with MICA. Do you have any update on it.

Surely the HAF should look to the future, considering that any F-16s ordered now would only be available in another 3-4 years..AESA equipped F-16 Block 60s are definitely superior to the Block 52 or Block 52+ variant, so unless cost is a big issue, its a no-brainer on what new aircraft HAF should get (if it is a F-16 variant, that is).

I would say the opposite. They can buy F 16s block 52+ for the strike role and then replace them with the F 35 when it is out. Or do a split order of F 16s and Eurofighters the latter purely for air superiority. 😉