This is why the US wants a new 4.5 gen fighter — you can’t rely on an all stealth fleet to do the dirty work.
China's Defense/Military Breaking News Thread
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This is why the US wants a new 4.5 gen fighter — you can’t rely on an all stealth fleet to do the dirty work.
Really instead of trying to design a new F-16Z or fat-free F-35 they should just eat humble pie and get LM to invest more into KFX and buy that instead.
KFX uses F-414. I doubt that the high speed performance is anything to brag about.
Or more realistically Boeing and DoD make the F-15EX available for export, which subsequently helps reduce Boeing's production prices and helps Congress/DoD drive down program cost. The EX is on track to reach IOC by the beginning of next year, while the KFX won't even be mass produced until the middle of the current decade. Boeing also has decades of experience producing F-15s (vs an unproven track record of the KFX), and the F-15Js have been a part of the JASDF combat air force for quite a while now.
AssassinsMace
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The title to that article is spin. China can learn a whole lot from F-35s flying around like how stealthy it is. Stealthy doesn't mean completely invisible. Is Japan going to shoot Chinese aircraft down hence why they need a stealth aircraft to sneak up? It's irrelevant if Japan has deployed F-35s unless they're going to fire. I bet Japan has agreed not to fly their F-35s anywhere close to China to avoid them from learning anything.
Would you be happy with that if you're in charge of JASDF though? So I spent all this money buying a plane that US tells me is best. Only it's slow, expensive to upkeep, sucks at maintaining presence in the ADIZ and now the US tells me I'm not even allowed to fly it near PLAAF.
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
Before the J-20 emerged Japan and South Korea bragged they were stealth powers while China was not just because the US had the F-22. They didn't have them but the US did so that was apparently good enough to claim they were stealth powers. So would Japan brag and buy a F-35 just to say they were a stealth power? Yes. If the F-35 were as good as the hype why would Japan be developing their own? It's either because the F-35 is more hype than reality or Japan will spend the billions on developing and deploying their own just to say they have their own stealth fighter. So would they waste billions for prestige value? Yes.
Which is why I’m suggesting the possibility of the JASDF looking into the F-15EX. In an offensive scenario they’ll sweep off the stragglers once the limited amount of F-35s in the JASDF inventory clean up the skies with stealth. In an interception or defensive counter air environment, stealth really isn’t necessary (although sensor fusion could really come in handy, but the JASDF have E-767s to datalink high fidelity intel) and so the -EX would be perfect for that role especially when you factor in cost and airframe availability.
Recent news about the failings of the F-35 program as well as the introduction of the F-15EX and F-16V serve as evidence that air forces across the globe will be answering the mission of air superiority with a 4.5+5 generation combination. The F-22s will be operating alongside F-15EXs with the USAF, the RAF with the Eurofighter and the F-35, as well as the PLA using Flankers/J-10Cs with the J-20.
''The F-35 is not suitable for emergency lift-off'' That's an incredible face palm ...
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