“improved”? It existed?

Yes as the EOTS in its current form is capable of hitting moving targets with an LGB that are, IIRC, moving less than 30-40 mph. However, that existed at 3i so I think bring_it_on is correct in thinking that the “improvement” deals with improved A2G radar modes.

I think that the drastic price reduction in PGMs which allowed for not only more munitions to be carried (ie SDB, APKWS, etc) but reduced the number of sorties required to complete a mission played a much greater role than the collateral damage issue. In addition, most modern PGMs could be made in kit form and they be customized to the mission rather than a purpose-built PGM.

Why would there not be any industrial gain to buying the F-35?

There are two basic options, FMS or buying into the Partner program. Both will involve offsets as we have seen in the South Korean, Israeli, and Japanese FMS deals. The nice thing about buying into the Partner program (if existing Partners agree) is that the offset contracts are a bit more stable and can last longer, less of a “flash in the pan” type of deal.

Long story short….
1991 — Motorcycle accident with multiple compound fracture. 3 month in the hosp to get MRSA under control & start to rebuild after losing 8 inches of the tibia to the MRSA. Lost a lot of soft tissue including multiple muscles, veins & arteries in the left shin area.
1991 > 1993 — I have had 28 surgeries involved in the MRSA infection, ortho reconstruction, muscle replacement, and skin graphs. Chronic bad blood flow in left shin due to the missing veins and arteries.
2001 — At my daughter’s 1st birthday party I had a pain in my left knee, the dr said possible bone chip and wraps the leg in an ace bandage. 4 days later (and in a lot of pain) I go back to the Dr to remove the ace and the leg is black & purple from the knee down. An aggressive cellulitis infection had taken hold. Turns out the pain was not a boan chip but the lympth node “going off”.
2001 > today — Starting in 2001 with 1 infection and growing in frequency (now at 3-4 per year), I keep getting these cellulitis infections. I am very good at detecting the early signs (ie the pain the in the lymph node) so I can start antibiotics before my leg even gets a little red. While it has been getting more frequent, they are very manageable and present nothing worse than a headache and some chills.

However, July the 31st was a different story. I was at work and got the now classic “pain the lymph node”. I told my boss (who is used to it by now and told me to go home) and started to drive home. After about 30 minutes I cannot remember anything till I “came around” in the ER. I never lost consciousness but was confused & incoherent for a couple of hours. The doctors told me that mild stomach bug that I had been dealing with for a week or so had weakend my imune system enough to allow the cellulitus to be very aggressive, turn septic, and basically hit me so hard I never saw it coming.

I’ve accepted for years that eventually I would have to have the leg amputated as at some point later in life I would no longer be able to fight the infections. However, this is a whole new problem, that being of safety and the possibility that I can cause a serious accident without seeing it coming. This is why I have decided to have the left shin amputated ASAP. I have an appt tommarow to have the leg scanned for blood flow to see if any part of the shin can be saved or if everything below the knee has to go.

Sorry, I did not mean to hijack the thread with my problems.

Sorry, I’ve been a little distracted the last couple of weeks…
Car accident (totaled) due to a leg infection going septic, week in the hospital, buy a new car, schedule an amputation below the knee so that I can never have the issue again.. You know, typical krap :apologetic:

A Block5 F-35 is just a Block3F with “updated electronics”. He made the comparison to a baseline, Block 3F F-35, not an updated Block 5+.

There is already a multi-phase plan in the works to improve the F-35’s range & performance with upgrades to the F135, not to mention a newer “advanced” engine that could easily be done long before a new European fighter could go IOC. On the payload side of things, 6 internal AMRAAM is in the works and so are new missiles (SACM, CUDA, etc). On the stealth side of things, better coatings & active (ie not radar based) jammers are in the works.

The key difference between the F-22 and F-35 in terms of future upgrades is money, pure and simple. There is simply more of an incentive to do F-35 upgrades since there is a better ROE.

LOL, for once the GAO has no recommendations:

We are not making any recommendations at this time because program officials told us that the concurrency issue is being considered as part of their reassessment of Block 4. We will therefore reassess this issue when DOD’s F-35 Block 4 baseline report is issued and brief the congressional defense committees on our findings.

The lift fan door actually helps guide air into the lift fan and does not create a lot of drag.