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USN Showdown between Super Hornet and F-35

Treetop Flyer

Well-Known Member
pilot

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
Seems like it would have been easier in retrospect if the America class LHA's and our allies light carriers had all decided to add catapults and just dispense with the headache of VSTOL fighters.
Legions of Marines, reading this on their computers:
qzniSIc.gif



:D
 

jmcquate

Well-Known Member
Contributor

sevenhelmet

Low calorie attack from the Heartland
pilot
This whole concept of a "showdown" is just: :rolleyes:

It not only demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of modern fighter aircraft, but also of the intent of the F-35 buy. Even the original intent wasn't to replace every Super Hornet. And now... quite a bit less, it would seem.
 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
The point of the LHD/LHA is the embarked Marines and helos.

Also I have no idea what that "article" has to do with what you said.



I am well aware of the Gator Navy's primary role.

I also agree with the study below that if you are going to build a ship the size of a Midway class carrier (the America class LHA), then it should have catapults and an angled deck. This gives the Navy increased capability and flexibility for a relatively small price increase. The article also proposes a return to 4 ship ARG's.

Too late now, but I wonder how much more capable and how much less expensive the F-35 could have been if it did not have a VSTOL requirement in any of the variants - thus influencing the F-35 vs F-18 debate. I leave that for the go fast guys. As the aircraft is in production and the question moot, this seems to more a shipbuilding question for the future.

In www.realcleardefense.com earlier this week.

http://csbaonline.org/research/publ...new-fleet-architecture-for-the-united-states-
 

jmcquate

Well-Known Member
Contributor
The F-35 is in the fleet (at least on the green side). It's here. The program is too far along to re-think shit. Same shit happened with the F-14. It went through ACM bullshit with F-4s.
 

Treetop Flyer

Well-Known Member
pilot
I am well aware of the Gator Navy's primary role.

I also agree with the study below that if you are going to build a ship the size of a Midway class carrier (the America class LHA), then it should have catapults and an angled deck. This gives the Navy increased capability and flexibility for a relatively small price increase. The article also proposes a return to 4 ship ARG's.

Too late now, but I wonder how much more capable and how much less expensive the F-35 could have been if it did not have a VSTOL requirement in any of the variants - thus influencing the F-35 vs F-18 debate. I leave that for the go fast guys.

http://csbaonline.org/research/publ...new-fleet-architecture-for-the-united-states-
A Midway class carrier didn't embark a MEU. It's a ridiculous argument.

Do we need big ass nuclear carriers instead of more smaller carriers? Do we need jets on LHD/A's? These are relevant questions. Arguing to turn an LHD into a CVA is just silly.
 
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