
underhill wrote:Why so angry? You hate light carriers; you hate supercarriers. Is there any course of action (not involving regression to crossbows) that would make you happy? You've done nothing but complain on this thread. Why don't you tell us your ideas to fix whatever's pi$$ing you off?
I don't hate supercarriers - I have mixed feelings. They're very useful but they cost too much and institutional inertia has long prevented anyone from doing anything about it.
I don't hate light carriers. But you can't have a light carrier with a fighter that's bigger than an F-4. Or a well designed light carrier that's also an LHA/LHD.
Fix? Determine how many JSFs the USAF can afford to buy and operate, which will be well south of 1,000. The fallout from that will be that the B is ridiculously expensive, while the Super Hornet, versus the C, becomes the 80-plus per cent solution for 50-minus per cent of the price.
If you want Marine air, think of a smaller A-10 with big flaps and thrust reversers operating in STOBAR mode. Or a Harrier III with an off-the-shelf engine core and fly-by-wire.
What does pi$$ me off is that the longer we delay the inevitable drawdown the more it will cost.
No... words.
