Wildpicture wrote:The million (or in this case multiple billion) dollar question is: For how long? It will be be at least 10 years before the JSF can be operational in significant numbers. By then the Russian and Chinese radar systems will be painfully ably to deal with present day stealth techniques. So the bonus we pay now, might be better spent on a larger number of other fighters.Polecat wrote: but appearently the 4th/5th generation planes can do tricks others can't..
It's not only about stealth capabilities. AFAIK it is a wide range of technology put in the new 5th Gen a/c: the fusion capabilities of (target)information, the AESA radar system, the fact that they don't have to aim at a target, 360° view etc etc does the trick.
Remember the F-15 was also stuffed with a lot of new technology. Why did the US invest in that aircraft? Well obviously to dominate the sky with the most advanced fighter of the previous decades. Was it obsolete in a few years? I don't think so. But if you had asked back then: what do you prefer: 1 Eagle or 4 Phantoms, the answer would have been the same as now: go for the Eagle.
An interesting question is why China and Russia are also trying to develop stealth aircraft, when the technology is obsolete anyway. These wild claims of advanced Russian and Chinese A/D systems are not really found in actual hardware on the market. The predictions that such systems will be developed is not the same as actually having developed and deployed these systems. Simple: they are not (yet) there), and if they are there, they will probably be very expensive. And a ground system is one thing, but how do they want to put those systems in A2A systems? Because to shoot down a 5th gen aircraft with an interceptor, the interceptor must be able to lock the aircraft in the first place.
