You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Science & Technology
The US military is quietly talking about a new hybrid fighter jet that could kill the F-35
2018-09-02
  • [BUSINESSINSIDER] Lockheed Martin has been pitching the US Air Force a hybrid between the F-22 and the F-35.

  • The F-22 is the world's best air-to-air combat plane, and the F-35 has the best sensors and abilities to knock out air defenses.

  • Combining the two would create a jet much better than either one individually.

  • But by creating an all-around better jet could kill the market for the F-35, which has just started to come online and is the most expensive weapons system in history.
Posted by:Fred

#7  buy another 80 F-35s.
Posted by: Sonny Dribble1184   2018-09-02 23:44  

#6  Not gonna happen. An F-35A is $90 million going on $80 million. An F22 hybrid will be over $200 million + R&D that could buy another 800 F-35s. The F-35 is already the scariest warplane out their and numbers matter.
Posted by: Sonny Dribble1184   2018-09-02 23:43  

#5  I think the last of the Phantoms was used as a QF drone (except for museum and privately owned few) There are more people who believe if all the Tomcats at AMARC were returned to flight worthy status and a new A-10 line were built we would be at "the end of history." Everyone knows how that story played out.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2018-09-02 19:24  

#4  ...It goes back to two things:

1) The only - ONLY - aircraft that has ever served equally well with the USAF and USN/USMC is the F-4 Phantom II....and that was a happy accident.

2) The insistence on a Swiss Army knife airplane didn't start growing until the mid-90s, when the last corporate knowledge of what a clusterfark the USN/USAF F-111 had been went away from DOD. Along with it went the knowledge that the F-4 working out had been a fluke. But the beancounters - and let there be no mistake, that's where the blame lies - insisted that "the F-4 could serve two masters, therefore the JTF shall as well, selah."

And this is where our troubles began.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2018-09-02 11:56  

#3  At least the f35 is modular so you can take out some of the good bits and put them in proper planes.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2018-09-02 10:44  

#2  The problem is that the F35 is a bit of a flying camel; i.e. a horse designed by a committee.
One Size Fits All actually fits none.
Posted by: ed in texas   2018-09-02 09:18  

#1  ...This idea was originally pitched to the Japanese, and I gather aside from some cost issues (natch) they're quite interested. I'm hearing USAF and USN are also quietly looking into this - it might be a practical workaround for the F-22 shutdown and puts more and more capable birds on flight decks. Stay tuned...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2018-09-02 06:23  

00:00