I am a fighter jet fanatic, but let's be honest: What the hell is a Eurofighter, Raptor, or Lightening going to do that can't also be done by an Eagle, Falcon or Hornet to more or less the same degree?
Let's be clear: The US and NATO established air dominance over the skies in Gulf War I in days, the Balkans in hours, and Afghanistan and Iraq in minutes with aircraft designed in the 70's. There is really no credible threat to western air forces that makes a new generation of fighter jet a priority.
Or at least, there wasn't. Now that Russia and possibly China are building realistic opponents that will challenge the dominance of F-15s/F-16s and F-18s, there is pressure to upgrade.
wow, Russia and China have started building realistic opponents for F-15s/F-16s and F-18s just now? I'm not sure whether I should laugh, cry, or tear my eyes out...
To be fair, the Russians did have that massive collapse of society to deal with a few years back. It slowed them down a little.
The Chinese still aren't big players in this space, and they mostly take their lead from the Russians.
The Russian's haven't exactly been twiddling their thumbs, but while they make great aircraft, their radar and weapon systems are just now starting to eclipse western fourth generation standards, and the Raptor is still posting 20-1 kill ratios in simulated combat.
That will probably change as the PAK-FA and J-XX come online (the Sukkoi being the greater threat, realistically, since nobody really knows what the J-XX actually is).
Keep in mind that many of the opinions around Soviet technology were overly optimistic. Until the Mig-29 and Su-27 entered service in the 80's, they had nothing that could match the F-14/F-15/F16 and F-18.
The kill ratios of the F-15 and F-16 speak for themselves.
I am a fighter jet fanatic, but let's be honest: What the hell is a Eurofighter, Raptor, or Lightening going to do that can't also be done by an Eagle, Falcon or Hornet to more or less the same degree?
Let's be clear: The US and NATO established air dominance over the skies in Gulf War I in days, the Balkans in hours, and Afghanistan and Iraq in minutes with aircraft designed in the 70's. There is really no credible threat to western air forces that makes a new generation of fighter jet a priority.
Or at least, there wasn't. Now that Russia and possibly China are building realistic opponents that will challenge the dominance of F-15s/F-16s and F-18s, there is pressure to upgrade.