re: #325 jamesfirecat

Multirole goes back to heavy fighter bombers of WW2.
You might recall the surprise and glee at the Pentagon and our allies equivalents when they made multirole jet fighters by accident? the F-16 and F-15? In the Osirak raid the CAP was F-15, the hitters were all F-16 the lighter “less capable” plane in design. Multirole/multiservice a frightfully seductive concept at the budget/logistics level.

I’m NOT saying the F-35 is a great plane. I’m pointing out the fact multirole has been done before so it seems a natural to try to repeat that success. It’s just harder than they imagined. One frame for 3 services was a budgeteers fantasy. Experienced fighters and developers knew better. Now the developers are excoriated for a best effort at a fantasy to save money.

OTOH it seems nearly every new plane or weapon system is the “worst ever” at some point in development. Some of those became military superstars in performance. M1 Abrams. The whole precision JDAM concept. F-15. F-16.

Without denying any of the F-22/F-35 issues, I for one would not be shocked to see either plane utterly kick ass at some point.