nutshell wrote:Because it might be the most controversial among the other partners.
No political parties really want to talk about the F35 as they fear some serious loss of consensus and technically speaking, we cannot afford the bird.
And the fallback position is futile. The politicians can waive their hands around all they want, but there won't be any other replacement for the F-35B for Italy.
The Italian Navy currently has only 14 Harriers operational and 2 trainers according to Flight Global.
Commander: There Are Plans for Replacing the AV-8B Aircraft?
Harrier's replacement as we know will be the JSF F-35B, the only heir to the latest generation and capable of being used on board the Navy's new flagship, Nave Cavour. The exact date of his entry into service for the Navy is still not well defined; At present, the phase-out of AV-8B aircraft is set for 2023. Final data on the number of aircraft that will be purchased and other information about the F-35 program have not yet been officially released and we are waiting for the publication of the book White Defense by the political authority from which the determinations on the details of the abilities to be derived will be derived.
Translation Required:
http://www.aviation-report.com/harrier- ... -militare/
Daddy why do we have to hide? Because we use VI son, and they use windows.