Quote:
Originally Posted by RN7
I think upgrades in engines, software, radars and weapons will keep the F-15 and F-16 flying very competitively for a long time, especially when you look at what's replacing them; the prohibitly expenisive and now no longer built F-22 and the possibly uncompetitive F-35.
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Fortunately, though, at least for the time being F22's dies and tooling have been kept. If the price-per-unit can be brought down somehow it can be put back in production and become an actual replacement for the F15 instead of a show-car.
I'd like to smack the people who say YEAH BUT THE COLD WAR IS OVER HAHA WE DON'T _NEEEEEED_ THIS PLANE ANY MORE THE F15 IS FINE (excepting the ones whose shipsets are so old (30+ years) they literally fall apart in mid-air...)
Politics are killing good weapons systems these days. We lost the M8 because of Bosnia, we lost the R/AH-66 because of Iraq. We got an all-show/no-go F22 because of a head-in-the-sand mentality, and more of the same will kill F35, or neuter it like the Raptor was/has been. The next global contingency issue we have to fight down the road will be done with 20+ year old F16s and 30+ year old F15s,
meanwhile...
x-(