Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffW1
Hi,
Yes, I've thought they turned out a good buy, after the initial problems. Good range, fly low, good payload, and short landing for a Mach 2+ aircraft. I hope we can replace them effectively. We have had our problems here when buying defence equipment 
Cheers |
No, we can't. The F35, despite being a good aircraft, is slower and doesn't have the range or the payload capacity. Even with the best long range standoff weapons it can carry, it still can't get to most targets the F111 can. Neither does the new F/A18-F Super Hornets we have.
The only thing it has going for it is its reasonably good stealth capabilities and its electronics package. If it got into a dogfight with an SU-37 it would lose, all things being equal, despite the Flanker being a much larger plane. It doesn't have the turning capabilities of the Flanker series of aircraft because it doesn't have vectored thrust. Nor could it outrun a Flanker (2.35M vs 1.6M). The only plane that can beat the Flankers (and the new PAK 50's) convincingly is the F22 Raptor, and they're too expensive (plus they've stopped production on them and they have sales restrictions on them).