Originally Posted by
Evalu8ter
Best VFM, perhaps, would be a weaponised T-7 Red Hawk. Cheap as chips compared to a clean sheet design, plus no additional support / airworthiness chain to fund and by 2030 most of your pilots are already qualified on it, so as a first tour, or if an urgent need arose to bolster the front line, it would help get bums in cockpits quickly. Make it ‘more SAAB (ie Gripen) and ‘less Boeing’ and it could be an effective real ‘Gen 5 minus’ as opposed to the real Gen 5 / Gen 6 it is designed to prepare crews for. Probably not enough ‘pork’ for the current USAF Brass to get their noses into post retirement I guess......
That’s a good point chap, as it reminds me of this article stating T-7 offered to likes of Serbia as a supplement light Attack a/c Trainer
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...port-customers
Sometimes in engineering , the KISS principle should be the answer to complex requirements. Slightly digressing into my rotary wing industry, I’ve spoken to many a peep at Heli Expo stating that all they want for the next helicopter is old school and not something too high tech with all bells whistling to do the job.
By the time this F-16 replacement comes to fruition. It will be entering its 6th decade of service lol and the F-15 will be on Par with the Buff.
Gripen seems to be getting a lot of attention especially with the CF-188 replacement, wonder if it has a good fighting chance. Here’s the thing if say likes of Boeing teams up with Saab again then perhaps an Americanized Gripen could work out.
cheers