Originally Posted by
DuckDodgers
As for what's next? Ask the customer, for which I'm sure the default answer will be 35-45K, M1.2, E-Scan or modern M-Scan, IRST, RWR, Data Link, Jamming, Target Handoff, HOBS Capability etc etc etc. Which means they'll get an Alpha Jet E.
Reading this litany, one has to wonder how many pilots can be effectively trained within even the high end 10,000 hr/yr envelope.
It does seem to be very much a peacetime plan, with no real provision for the requirements posed by any sort of more protracted conflict.
One might catch echoes of the 'no war likely within 10 years' thought processes of the 1930s.