A-10C Thunderbolt II makes a comeback

[Smitty-48]

America is $20 trillion in debt, and as a result, the congress has cut the budget to $200 billion 1980's dollars, at $200 billion 1980's dollars, you can't have the 1980's Air Force anymore, in real dollars, the 1980's budget was $3 trillion, 15 times what it is now.

Contrary to popular myth, in constant dollars, the Pentagon doesn't have Cold War money anymore.

[Speaker to Animals]

We are about due to start developing the next generation anyhow. We were so far lucky we didn't actually get into a major war with the pile of shit liability that is the F-35 and the neglected F-22.

These things started in the mid-1990s. By 2020s, we need to start developing the replacements.

That's how fucked the JSF program really was. Always in development. Shit product. I'd line people up in front of a firing squad for that.

[Smitty-48]

The next generation will be exactly the same as the F-35, in constant development to the end, there's no finished product anymore, all combat aircraft are in continuous state of spiral development, and by the time you roll out the next generation, it will make the F-35 look dirt cheap in comparison, so they'll end up cutting the numbers on the new generation, same as they did with F-22, and they will just keep on refurbing the F-35's

[Speaker to Animals]

That's what the firing squad is for.

[Smitty-48]

All the hysteria about the F-35 being expensive is political, not reality, the F-35 is cheap, half the price of the competition, same price as a souped up F-16.

The limitations of the F-35 are cost based by design, it was designed to work within the envelope which the Air Forces actually uses, rather than some super duper envelope which it does not, in order to contain the costs to F-16 like numbers, which is what they are, brand new F-16 with all the bells and whistles, same price as an F-35.

Expensive is Eurofighter, expensive is Rafale, they both cost two and a half times what an F-35 costs.

[The Conservative]

They can have one fighter jet, even the F-22 was cancelled, the F-15, F-16, A-10, and even F-22, are all obsolete.

It's going to be all F-35's, plus an orphaned fleet of 186 Raptors until the Raptors age out.

They said the same thing about the F-22 now it's the F-35... sooner or later someone is going to have to find something worth building.

[Smitty-48]

They can have one fighter jet, even the F-22 was cancelled, the F-15, F-16, A-10, and even F-22, are all obsolete.

It's going to be all F-35's, plus an orphaned fleet of 186 Raptors until the Raptors age out.

They said the same thing about the F-22 now it's the F-35... sooner or later someone is going to have to find something worth building.

Only the hacks are saying the same thing about the F-35, reality is tho, it's much cheaper than an F-22, F-22 costs $400 million, F-35 costs $100 million.

[The Conservative]

They can have one fighter jet, even the F-22 was cancelled, the F-15, F-16, A-10, and even F-22, are all obsolete.

It's going to be all F-35's, plus an orphaned fleet of 186 Raptors until the Raptors age out.

They said the same thing about the F-22 now it's the F-35... sooner or later someone is going to have to find something worth building.

Only the hacks are saying the same thing about the F-35, reality is tho, it's much cheaper than an F-22, F-22 costs $400 million, F-35 costs $100 million.

That's the problem though, the hacks are also the ones with their hands on the strings of the purse... namely congress.

[Smitty-48]

They said the same thing about the F-22 now it's the F-35... sooner or later someone is going to have to find something worth building.

Only the hacks are saying the same thing about the F-35, reality is tho, it's much cheaper than an F-22, F-22 costs $400 million, F-35 costs $100 million.

That's the problem though, the hacks are also the ones with their hands on the strings of the purse... namely congress.

No, the vast majority of congress supports the F-35, there's only a couple hacks who grandstand against it, but even they vote for it when push comes to shove.

Once you crunch the numbers and look at the competition, the F-35 looks cheap in comparison, same price as the A-10 was in the 1970s, in constant dollars.

A $100 million F-35 now, is a $20 million dollar jet in 1976, which is F-16 and A-10.

F-22 in 1976 is $80 million, Eurofighter/Rafale in 1976 is $40 million.

[The Conservative]

Only the hacks are saying the same thing about the F-35, reality is tho, it's much cheaper than an F-22, F-22 costs $400 million, F-35 costs $100 million.

That's the problem though, the hacks are also the ones with their hands on the strings of the purse... namely congress.

No, the vast majority of congress supports the F-35, there's only a couple hacks who grandstand against it, but even they vote for it when push comes to shove.

Once you crunch the numbers and look at the competition, the F-35 looks cheap in comparison, same price as the A-10 was in the 1970s, in constant dollars.

Hopefully, you are right. So far it seems that Congress bows to the minority, and not logic.