Thursday, January 21, 2010

Fighter Gap

Today's Daily Report from AIR FORCE Magazine, reveals plans to slowdown the early year production of the F-35 Lightning II, the only active fifth generation fighter program following the early shutdown of the F-22 Raptor.

The long-expected fighter gap will begin in earnest with the retirement of 250 legacy fighters, a decision that AFA has supported as necessary to the Air Force's ability to manage the fleet. With an average age of around 25 years, many more retirements are sure to follow creating a "bathtub" effect until the full production of the F-35 begins taking up the slack years from now.

Perhaps a larger concern is if decisions about the F-35 begin to echo the arguments made for the premature demise of the F-22. What are your thoughts about the developing fighter gap?

1 comment:

blogger said...

J-14 stealth fighter air-to-air missiles:
http://china-arsenal.blogspot.com/2010/01/j-14-stealth-fighter-air-to-air.html