Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Upgrade the Raptor with all the F-35 tech. Build about 500 new builds and arm them with nuclear a2a missiles. Kill a Army to pay for it. If we need to attack someone just nuke'em. After the first few bad guys get glassed we'll have world pease! Not the best way but you did say plausibility. Applause

for world pease. LMAO

TSFG keep'em flyin!

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southernphantom wrote:

My F-35 alternative for the USAF??
-400 F-15E+/SE to equip most active-duty units, replacing Golden Eagles and some earlier F-16s. Serve as deep strike and a complement for the F-22A.
-187 F-22As as planned.
-Around 400 F-16(IN based? RCS minimization for sure) to replace the Block 30/40 birds and UAVs.
-All Block 50/52 airframes.
-X-47B-type VLO UCAV in small quantities to replace the obsolete Predator/Reaper airframes and perform 'special' missions.

While having 400 F-15E+s would be nice, it would limit the number of sorties that could be generated. Even with 400 F-16+s, that still wouldn't provide the flexibility, that we currently enjoy, much less that which the full F-35 purchase would bring.

The plan wasn't for 400 F-16s, it was for 400 F-16G/H with all of our late-block airframes, so closer to 650 airframes. We could, of course, just order more G/H models than my original numbers. In any case, it would take quite a while to actually retire the earlier airframes, so phase-in could occur over 10-15 years.

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Your Alternative to the F-35?