China and the US are corrupt countries 😎

As opposed to Pakistan

http://www.u4.no/publications/overview-of-corruption-in-pakistan/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Pakistan
http://www.transparency.org/country#PAK

where OBL hid, with state approval, for many years.

It’s not just LM, but the DoD and all the partner nations involved.

I suppose they ALL could be lying :rolleyes:

F15SE … can match the frontal RCS of F35.

There are several things wrong with Boeing’s claim:
1. They have no idea what the RCS of the F-35 is.
2. They claimed that it matched the “Export” model of the F-35. Since that claim, the DoD has stated MANY times that there will not be any “Export” version of the F-35. Once again, Boeing does not know what it is talking about.
3. Since the F-35 was built from the ground up as a VLO fighter to include shaping, RAS and RAM (as part of the structure), there is NO WAY that the F-15 could match the F-35 frontal RCS with RAM and minor panel changes (some sawtooth edging, intake RCS blockers, etc).
4. Boeing has not repeated that claim in recent F-15SE competitions or presentations.

F-22 is not for sale because its not made anymore.

The F-22 was never exported primarily due to it’s avionics never being designed for export. There are no anti-tamper measures built into the F-22.

RAAF stop buying further F-18E because they dont know final bill of reduced F-35.

The RAAF’s F-18 were bought to act as a stopgap plane for the F-111 until the F-35 comes online. They stopped buying them because they do not need anymore. They are confident enough in the F-35’s timeline that the current F-18s will provide the needed capability and can be later turned into mini-Growlers when they get their F-35s.

not even the West will have strike ucavs in active service in 2020.

What is your definition of a “strike ucav”?

Consider the source:

Juliet Buck is a foaming-at-the mouth (soon to be bleeding from the ears) F-35 hater.

http://f35insouthburlington.blogspot.com/

This is priceless:

Buck and other opponents argue, however, that putting the new plane in Utah or elsewhere would not necessarily result in the loss of the 1130 jobs linked to the F-16. “New versions of the F-16 are in production,” Buck notes. “There’s nothing to prevent the Air Force from purchasing more and using them here. Not getting the F-35 doesn’t mean the base disappears.”

Essentially, they do not want the F-35 because theu think it too loud.

But, they want the ANG to buy MORE (newer) F-16s to replace the ones it is retiring (apparently without realizing that newer ones are louder than the old ones they are flying now) just so they do not lose the ~$55 mil annual economic benefit that the ANG provides the local economy.

nothing to prevent the Air Force from purchasing

Yeah… They could just pull all that extra cash out of their asses just to make you happy 🙂

Hey Geogen, I think I have a date for ya 😉

IIRC they are qualifying the external hardpoints now because they want to add the external cameras to the pylons in order to qualify the internal weapons bays (ie take slow-motion video of the weapons as they separate in flight).