US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

gelgoog said:

The US is producing only single engine fighters. Both figures are not comparable.

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Whatever... do the US forces fighter fleets are going to be better or getting worse ?

US need to replace a mega load of F-16 and F-15 and for now on, they will be replaced mostly by 104 F-15ex and Hangar queens F-35. Bunch of F-16 will be kept until 2040 with no direct replacement. F-22 will go soon in retirement.



2022: Pentagon cut F-35 to improve readiness over stealth:

The F-35's issues could be mitigated had they actually funded the alternative GE engine for it. As things are Pratt & Whitney has no reason to speed up their work on improving the available engine. The less it lasts the more money they earn fixing it.

The US also seems to be continuing on its "transformational leapfrog technology" nonsense. They could have designed an F-22 replacement based on available technology. Could have been in service 5 years ago. Instead they are making NGAD.

gelgoog said:

The US is producing only single engine fighters. Both figures are not comparable.

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The US has active lines of F15E and F/A18E-F. F16 production is just restarting and F35 numbers dwarf any other Fifth generation fighter on earth.

F/A-18 is for the Navy. And as for the F-15EX for the Air Force it remains to be seen how many aircraft they will produce.
They delivered how many F-15EX? Less than Russia has Su-57s.

The Air Force is doing the best they can with the limited selection they have. There is no good reason why they cannot buy something better than the F-15EX in the heavy fighter role in 2023.

Build numbers are irrelevant if you sacrifice build quality and quality control. Look at the pictures in the F-35 thread, they are falling apart even while being kept in hangars and used for public shows.

BS. Quality control is high. If it wasn’t they wouldn’t be flying. Skin degradation happens overtime, it’s weathering send a J20 yo an operational squadron i assure you after a few months the skin will be worn.
Those aircraft are then cycled through to be reskinned repainted and repaired. That’s the life of a combat vehicle. As for Air shows. So what? Aircraft at air shows don’t need stealth in fact they have to wear reflectors for air traffic control. Until F35 are flown by the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels demo teams saving immaculate jets for air shows is a waste.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

BS. Quality control is high. If it wasn’t they wouldn’t be flying. Skin degradation happens overtime, it’s weathering send a J20 yo an operational squadron i assure you after a few months the skin will be worn.
Those aircraft are then cycled through to be reskinned repainted and repaired. That’s the life of a combat vehicle. As for Air shows. So what? Aircraft at air shows don’t need stealth in fact they have to wear reflectors for air traffic control. Until F35 are flown by the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels demo teams saving immaculate jets for air shows is a waste.

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The J-20 has been in operation since 2017. I don't think it has anything to do with planes being active.

Rather, it seems like the J-20 is either a lot easier to maintain, or China does a much better job of maintaining them. Or both.

Or they don’t allow photos of them in a degraded skin.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Or they don’t allow photos of them in a degraded skin.

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Or they simply change the skin/actually spends some time performing maintainance.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Or they wave a magic wand and presto change oh.

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Dude, how hard can it be to realize that the US military isn't doing enough when it comes to maintenance as well as running/using their hardware too much, and because of that are suffering when it comes to say readiness and the likes.