Originally Posted by
Lyneham Lad
As someone now deceased noted 'quantity has a quality all its own'. One may legitimately wonder whether any 'silver bullet' system, no matter how shiny, will influence the larger sweep of things.
The F-35 is quite unaffordable, even for the UAE. The maintenance and upgrade costs will sap their resources for the life of this project. Also, no credible military effort is built around a few dozen unreplaceable wonder weapons.
There is a separate thread here on PPruNe about the last days of the British Empire in Aden.
What is stunning is the disconnect between the technically advanced gear of the losers, the British, compared to the primitive weaponry of the winners, the local insurgents. But apparently we've learned nothing.