re: #416 Targetpractice, Worst of Both Worlds

The first step is acknowledging that, when a program has gone on as long as the F-35, while failing to meet deadline after deadline, with an ever-increasing budgetary overrun, that pulling the plug is in the nation’s best interest. We need large numbers of affordable, reliable aircraft, not a small number of maintenance hassles. The F-35’s never going to succeed in replacing the F-16, certainly not on a 1:1 basis. And the Marines may be sold on it as a Harrier replacement, but the Navy was all but dragooned into the program from the word go.

And the F-18 Super Hornet is still one hell of an airplane. The fact is that the last real fighter/attack aircraft that was usable by both the Navy and the Air Force was the F-4 Phantom, which was originally classified as the F-110 by the Air Force. That was an early 60’s beast that my dad flew in Viet Nam. Originally developed as a navy bird, it was this country’s primary multi-functional war bird (fighter/ground attack) from 1966 until around 1982.