I think is not the best moment not just for hotshot but for the whole thread, last few pages were a collection of rantings, unsubstantiated affimations, deluded hopes, Pavlov dog’s replies and so on…
Come on crew, you can do much more better than that :eagerness:.

Probably F-35 is really a sort of Jack of all trades, master of none thing but if the alternative is resuming the production of the Queen of Hangar Queens…

You’re part of the crew too don’t forget, ‘Mercurius Cantabrigiensis’, hahaha!

Like many folks in the aerospace industry, I saw it (and heard it) at Farnborough in 1992. I may not be much of an expert on aircraft, but recall that the Yak had three engines, while the alleged copy has one plus a lift fan.

LM certainly didn’t invest in the Yak for the fun of it. They were working on the JSF and they saw the potential of that design. Without the experience of the Yak, probably they couldn’t have made the JSF that way.

He’s a businessman who has begun nine different businesses, all of which failed miserably. The two businesses he’s made money from are (1) the source of most of his wealth, the property business he inherited as a very successful going concern, with a management team already in placer, a long apprenticeship under his father’s supervision & continued mentoring by his father for many years, almost all of which is in the same location as his father ran it in, & in which it’s been almost impossible for a property business to fail to make money in recent decades, & (2) a ‘reality’ TV show which he performed in, but which was someone else’s idea & was set up & run by that person.

According to those who’ve studied his businesses, he’s made less than he would have done by investing his huge inheritance in a stockmarket tracking mutual fund, & it’s indisputable that every business idea he’s had & tried to implement outside what he inherited has been a failure.

Since the US government is neither a New York property business nor a TV show which Trump will have a producer to run for him, I wouldn’t bet on him shaking anything up in a positive way.

You have 2 choices:
a) vote for the left and keep the F-35
b) vote for Trump and cancel the F-35, or at least seriously mess up the recapitalization of the 3 services.

Pick one.

Looking now at all the problems the F-35 has had, it may not have been such a bad idea. An advanced harrier could have reused much of the SH systems and could have been designed with a lower RCS, while the USAF/USN would have buit 2 variants of a plane with higher performance than the F-35.

Btw it is so funny when fanboys say that the F-35 is not a copy of the yak.. pffwaha..

To change to subject a bit, if Trump is elected would he cancel the F-35? Would he cancel the 3 variants? Maybe he would keep the B as there is no harrier replacement, and keep producing the SH, restart the F-22. Would the USAF be interested in the low RCS of the SH? How about making a land variant of the F-18? If they could make a new ‘land’ wing without the crappy canted pylon the SH wouldn’t be a draggy pig. Mmh don’t know.

I don’t think the defending aircraft would have to accelerate towards the incoming missile, the SACM has its side thrusters to change direction after launch. I would imagine it would be better to try and intercept the missile when it is not to close because it would be maneuvering at less Gs.

From what I can see, the SACM might be some sort of CUDA derivative with short motor and a warhead.

Maybe they could try and increase the number of PGMs in stealth mode by using more the centerline station. For instance a small stealthy centerline pod with 4 mini-bombs/missiles. Something like a griffin could kill most vehicles.

I am not sure but I think an FB-22 could be easier to build and put in production than an F-23, and it would complement the other aircraft better. The F-16XL was build on GD’s own funds by using an F-16 prototype. The USAF would have to give LM one of the F-22 FSD planes for LM to modify. They would get a good experience on the new airframe, so it would be relatively easy to modify the design for a next generation engine later. As much technology from the F-35 could be reused. An FB-22 with variable cycle engine would have a massive endurence, much better than the F-23, and a good supercruise. It could carry 12 ARMAAMs and 2 AIM-9s and could escort the bombers very far. Even if it doesn’t carry weapons as large as the F-35, it is not such a big drawback because the bombers and F-35s can carry these weapons.

If maneuvrability becomes relatively secondary in the future the FB-22 could have sufficient aerodynamics performances to do the a2a job. Adding a HEL would be hard however.

I think they could have it in service by 2025, which is as soon as the new engines will be available.