I’m sure a whole cabal, somewhere in the Pentagon, has convinced themselves and others that we should invest in 60’s and 70’s technology, with later bandaids added, for mid-21st century AirPower. It worked for the B-52 and the C-135. So we get a very expensive, old but updated two seat fighter (a great airplane in its day), and then put only one crew member in it. WTF? Has Trump infected the Pentagon? Oh yeah, acting SecDef has a background in military air or...?
We paid a boatload to design and field a 5th gen stealth fighter with revolutionary capabilities, the marginal costs of which only drop with each new tail. So we prefer to spend another boatload on another airplane. Of course, Boeing needs the business, shares are dropping. And I just finished paying taxes, so I feel like ranting.