Thanx WC, confirms what I thought.
The reason I asked was, in the present (and future) climate of defence expenditure scrutiny, why would the USAF want (or more to the point NEED) hundreds of F-35s when the USMC (Air) would, no doubt be the ones providing the majority of CAS?
I can see the requirement for the USMC, but the USAF? Could be tricky persuading the purse holders to buy “hundreds” of F-35Bs for Gen. Jumper
Maybe the Joint Chiefs are going to restructure the forces?
Us Brits are creating a combined Harrier force that will merge the Navy and Airforce units.
Mind you I think Gen. Jumper isn’t too hot with facts when interviewed:
excerpt from
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123008666
Marc Selinger, Aviation Week: How does the EuroFighter compare to the F-22?
General Jumper: The EuroFighter is a very good airplane. It does not do what the F/A-22 does. It does not do supercruise, it does not do stealth. So it's just a different category. But as far as maneuverability goes and acceleration and the flight characteristics, it's a very impressive airplane.
From the eurofighter website:
http://www.eurofighter.com/Typhoon/P...asp?Flash=True
“Stealth technology is incorporated in the basic design. Features include low frontal Radar Cross Section (RCS), passive sensors and supercruise capability.”