You called the F-35 a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. So explain what it is that it does not do better than the many aircraft it is replacing. What does it not do well as it should

Did you not read the last post?

It does everything the aircraft it replaces can do, but compared to other current aircraft it doesn’t do anything superbly. It isn’t a top notch fighter compared to others like the F22 or T50 for example. It tries to be too many things which leads to compromises having to be made, so I’m sure it’ll do everything well, but I doubt there’s much it’ll do in a better way than other 5th gens.

Again, not about what it’s replacing, just that it does everything but not as well as 5th gens with a more specific role in mind.

Grim901,

Just what does any previous generation aircraft that the F-35 is going to replace do better than the F-35 will do it?

Didn’t say that, I just said that because it is trying to do so many things at once, it does none of them as well as it should do. Yes it does them all better than the previous generation, but what happens when it comes up against things of the same generation?

Just heard that 4 of 11 typhoons that went up yesterday have ash related issues. Presumably this means that there is literally no Typhoons going up now which would include the practice displays for the coming display season.

They’ve specifically said that the QRA will still fly. I doubt they’ll go unless really needed though, they’ll just have to accept engine damage.

That’s funny because although they are definitely not S300 launchers manufactured in Russia, they are dead ringers for HQ-9 launchers that come from China. Good thing they are empty oil drums.

The same Ares article that was mentioned then says later in the comments that some actual parts may be of Chinese origin, and that efforts have been made to make the whole thing look as such. It does however point out that there is no indication whatsoever of any TEL type set up, so it probably isn’t a real, complete system, at best some real parts cobbled together to look like the finished product.

why doesn’t RAN simply collaborate with the japanese and get a modified soryu ?

Japanese law prohibits it.

@Village: The new class should go a long way towards reversing a lot of those problems you mentioned, but they’ve already started rectifying one, Harriers have gone back to the flight decks since they’ve come back from Afghanistan. It’s not much but it’s a start, a signal of intent perhaps.

No problem at all with foreign pilots being trained abroad. My point (which people are missing out) was that if Oman was serious about upgrading it capabilities it would invest across the entire spectrum of military infratsructure. No just the shiney new jets BAE are flogging…

Listen to Swerve, as always he is talking sense. I didn’t suggest that Iran was a direct threat to Oman alone, it is a threat to the Gulf region and several of the states within it. Oman is expected to contribute in a coalition if required and the Typhoons are the most sensible option to go for, they can be used by Oman to act alone and do standard air policing etc, but can also form a useful capability in a coalition, AEW or tankers could only do the latter since it’d be a choice between fighters and those. And Typhoon specifically provides interoperability with major player in the Gulf (SA), as well as another long time ally who frequently operates there (UK).

And as everyone else has pointed out, they don’t NEED to increase trainer numbers to meet any threat to the region.

What else can you possibly be saying that none of us are addressing?

Harriers can fly over London, but it would have to be at a height that wouldn’t be acceptable for a flypast display. The Hawk replaced Harriers during 2007 for the Falklands 25th Anniversary. The Harrier has a very poor glide capability.

From the press release at the time

‘Harriers will not take part in the flypast over London because single engine aircraft without the capability to glide in the event of an engine failure are not permitted to fly low over central London. Were they to take part, they would have to fly too high to be part of the display.’

TJ

That was the report I was referring to, and what I meant.