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Originally Posted by Looger
well, 'supposed to replace' is one of those wierd things, i believe that the f-16 was originally intended to replace many aspects of the multirole F-4 phantom.
the F-4 still remains in the wild weasel role in the USMC, israel, and turkey as it's very tough, i've read that not once has a phantom exploded in mid-air in all the combat situations it's been involved with in vietnam, mideast, etc.
glad to see canada getting a fighter more suited to our actual infrastructure and requirements.
the F-18 is a naval strike fighter, and we've using it as a short-air intercept and CAS (close air support) dumb-bomb dive-bomber for the majority of its life, only upgrading to guided air-to-ground munitions for the 1999 bombing of yugoslavia.
the JSF has many capabilities (including naval) and many potential configurations. it's a GREAT CAS aircraft, the USMC was i believe the first commissioner of it and i've watched its development with interest. canada is a 10% partner if i recall but i tend to think turkey will probably bump us in line for deployment with their very real combat requirements.
i don't think it's as fast as the CF-18, which sucks but i think it's a far better aircraft for say, an extended tour in afghanistan for when we lose total control of the outback in that country and are limited to guarding the pipeline while we provide afghanis with unocal's promised 'carpet of bombs'. having troops pinned down in defensive positions means we could use aircraft like the JSF that can get into theater fast from the base, and slow down to strafe infantry. yes, it's overkill to go after goat-herders, but it sure beats attack helicopters that vent their heat straight up, lower than the peaks that missiles are raining down on them from in that very high country.
CaptainCrunch, i've heard here and there, and in posts by yourself, that we've looked at having a squadron of F-22 raptors stripped down a bit, any news on that front?
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The DND looked at the Raptor since it fit the profile of the general purpose air superiority/ground attack fighter that Canada needs since we can't afford to have specialist aircraft. The strip downs included a slightly lower avionics and computer suite, and some of its truly stealth capabilities wouldn't have been there, but the costs of the F22 were still prohibative. the f-35 is a strong and much cheaper alternative, and is an easier transistion for an F18 pilot.
The remark earlier that the F-35 is a replacement for the A-10 Thunderbolt is a little misleading, its mission specs are nowhere near close to the A-10 Warthog which is an extremely low level, heavily armoured subsonic attack bird. The F-35 while a low level attack plane is an in and out theatre weapon that can't take the damage that the A-10 can, which can basically attack at low speeds and engage and destroy a huge amount of enemy armored units with multiple passes.