The face of future air combat

Meet the Sukhoi PAK-FA, which an Australian aviation website terms “the new, younger, tougher kid on the block, and … likely to become the nemesis of the F-22” Raptor, which the U.S. has just capped at 187 aircraft, on the theory that there’s little need in today’s world for an air-superiority fighter. The money thus saved is to go into procurement of the F-35, a smaller, lighter, cheaper, multi-role warplane to be acquired by the USAF and the Navy and Marine air arms. The logic of this move is disputed by the Australians, who argue that the F-35 just can’t stand up against the PAK-FA. India plans to co-produce the Russian plane, and Israel is a likely buyer as well. Concludes the website:

The US would be left with the scraps, producing ineffective combat aircraft that could only be sold by forcing purchases onto the wary and resentful US Armed Services, who would know that they are now ‘second tier’ and likely to be slaughtered en-masse in a shooting war.

How to rescue the situation? Easy: just cancel the F-35 program (actually, there are three such programs, since the Air Force, Navy, and Marines each have different requirements for their “joint” fighter.) Blue skies! – Dan Ford