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Originally Posted by Madman
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At the end of the day, I firmly believe that it would be insane for the Government not to buy the F-35.
With the Eurofighter production closing down and with the Rafale at the end of its life. The only real other option is the Griphen JAS-39, but capability wise, its not a real match for the F-35. With the F-35 pricing coming down to the mid 80's and the J-39 being between 60 and 65 million bucks, the pricing isn't that much of a chasm to me anyways.
Eurofighter - 2 of the 4 production lines are shutting down due to a lack of orders. Component manufacturing is also being suspended. More nations are opting for 5th generation fighters like the F-35.
Rafale - Don't get me wrong, its a nice fighter, but its at the end of its innovation cycle. We'd probably be looking at the C variant single seat airforce plane. But at a cost of about 69 million euros (80 million us), it doesn't have the advanced features set of an f-35.
Jas-39 - Called a smart fighter, and its a budget fighter, but still a 4th generation bird. If the Jas-39 is a smart fighter, the F-35 is its brilliant bigger brother with better sensors and interoperability suite, the J-35 is a maverick in the digital battlefield. Among its future features include the ability to control independent drones to extend its awareness. The f-35 also has a better disruption suite.
While the F-35 has had developmental problems. We have to remember that other advanced planes like the F/A-18 Hornet went through similar growing pains and became an airforce standout. The F-35 is coming online in the US airforce and has now seen combat with Israel, other nations are bringing them online as well.
The other option is the FA-18E/F Super Hornet. which is a advanced and larger variant of the F-18. Its had upgraded avionics and engines. But at the end of the day its still a gen 4 fighter, at a $70 million dollar per copy plane, its price tag isn't significant enough to make it a really strong choice over the F-35. In the digital battlefield it would probably be a great secondary plane in theatre in combination with the F-35 or F-22 who could scout and pinpoint the battlefield.