[CaptainCrunch]

The costs savings really won't be significant enough to do much for the Navy addons, plus that money has already been budgeted and contracted, so what Leslie is saying makes little sense to me unless they're going to build additional platforms for the Navy, which makes no need considering that the future and proper composition of the Navy has been configured by the Conservatives.

And it goes back to robbing peter to pay paul.

The airforce especially is highly technology driven. Saying that you're going to go cheap and buying older technology puts you behind the curve in terms of combat effectiveness, especially when you're going to ride that technology for a long period of time.

If you look at the cost per plane of the Rafale, its between a 101 million and 108 million US dollars, that's not including operational costs.

According to the latest Lockheed Martin numbers the F-25 A is going to be between 96 million and 116 million us for the STOL varient which we aren't buying. not including operational costs.

There isn't that big of a savings between the Rafale and the F-35, but mission capability wise the F-35 is going to be a better option.

why don't I like the Rafale? Its designed as a straight line interceptor, air to air platform, then the air to ground was added later. We've often seen where platforms are modified mid stream and they end up not doing anything particularly well.

The F-35 is a smarter airplane, with a better sensor suite. Its got a much longer upgrade curve to it which is essential, and it will interoperate better with our allies better.