Quote:
Originally Posted by worth
I agree with you guys. The only saving grace that would force the government to make a decision is 18 fighters does not make a fleet. I'm sure these suepr hornets will be in service a long time, why wouldn't they be? But 18 planes once the CF-18's are retires are not going to cover our responsibilities NATO and NORAD responsibilities, so they will have to commit buy more planes at some point in time.
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The idea behind the F-35's is it would allow us to shrink our fleet to 65 aircraft. When we bought the Hornets we bought I think 138 of them.
The F-35 would allow a fleet that was far more integrated and technologically advanced enough to be able punch above its weight.
The Super Hornet is pretty much an obsolete frame. countries that are purchasing them are usually purchasing them for a secondary role (IE Australia to replace the F-111's I think. Kuwait to act as their fighter bomber while purchasing Typhoons as their advanced multirole fighter).
If we are buying a plane at the end of its lifespan then 18 is far short of what we should be buying, we would be looking at going to a much larger airforce them what we would be buying with the F-35.