Have you been absent recently from world news? The US defense budget is getting a serious shave. For good.

Not really, no. And there are no indications that the American national security establishment even recognises the need for change. They figure they can ride out this ‘bump in the road’ just like all the others. :rolleyes:

Swiss pilots want a new shiny toy to bring to Red Flag and the like. In the real world, these planes are going to replace the F-5E.
If you’ve been doing your job for 30 years with a Fiat Doblo, it’s hard to see why you’d need a Maserati to continue doing it.

What they are replacing is irrelevant. What matters is how well they match SwAF’s requirements as considered in the context of broader national security objectives, questions of fiscal feasibility, etc.

So why bash your head against the wall, you have already said no alternative ? Oh wait you rolled your eyes at the end of that:rolleyes:

So tell me the alternative ? Because all I have seen is **** throwing against the JSF and not one single realistic alternative ?

The alternative is to cancel it and reboot, taking lessons learned and systems developed and applying them to a decent airframe for IOC by 2025.

In the interim:

Navy has Super Hornet — with a convenient development roadmap even! — and X-47

USAF can pick up a couple hundred more F-15Es and invest further in UCAVs.

USMC can either (1) get stuffed and use the funds saved to invest (or further invest) in any one of the other thousand Absolutely Totally Essential bespoke programs they’re always whining about or (2) reboot with international partners on a lower-spec, non-VLO machine that uses as much off-the-shelf technology as possible (including possibly the F-135 engine) and doesn’t seek to push any boundaries beyond V/STOVL.

Implications: TACAIR numbers and associated costs in freefall (mmm, all those unneeded personnel…) = mucho desperately needed savings with minimal national security implications, with such implications as exist to be experienced in the most permissive decade — beyond the one already gone and wasted — the nation is likely to face this century, and which — again, contrary to the last decade and the JSF program — set the nation up to face the real challenges of the future.

(Relatively) hard calls with an eye on the long-term interests of the nation coupled with scant regard for the bleatings of an out-of-control military-industrial-congressional complex. Nah, you’re right, it’ll never happen. :p

Through years of hard work, employing the talents of real engineers, overcoming problems identified in testing, rather than picking holes in everything you can find, looking for spelling mistakes or grammatical mistakes to prove some sort of “point” and most importantly, offering no realistic alternative whatsoever.

Scrapping the program is a realistic alternative, albeit one that gets less realistic with every month that rolls by because there is said to be ‘no alternative’. :rolleyes:

Do the west have any helicopters that can compare to the Russians size wise?

CH-53K will have comparable power in a more impressive overall package. Fingers crossed that the joint Russian-Chinese heavy lift helo program recently announced is a new design rather than Mi-26T3 or something.

Yes. Although.. empty weight of the MiG-35 is around 11,000kg, while F-16 Block 60 is 9,970 kg. That’s 9.5% difference.
The biggest problem of the MiG-35 is that it has two engines to feed and maintain.

I don’t think anyone would claim that the F-16 in its current incarnation is a light aircraft either?

The thrust of GE 414 IN56 isn’t specified anywhere. Although the GE statement says that its the highest thrust variant of 414 available, I have my doubts if its the EPE engine.

Good God, is there anybody who is still working with the $65mil price quote? 😀

The Italian parliament, apparently.