Originally Posted by Jackonicko
I suspect that, like Norway, the UK will commit to the next phase and book slots, paying penalties if it subsequently cancels.
It will do so without any guarantee as to exactly what the aircraft's capabilities and characteristics are, and with no firm guarantee as to what it will pay for the privilege. It will do so as part of a high risk, high cost programme that is almost certain to run into difficulties as a direct result of having to make production investment before enough of the development programme has been completed.
We should not sign up to JSF, if samity prevails, but I suspect that we will.
Without operational sovereignty, however, I'd hesitate in predicting that the F-35 will ever actually enter UK service.
Jacko, I agree with alot of what you said in your last post. My motivation on this topic is only that the RAF/RN get the best available platform to conduct ops of the future - within a budget that HM government is able (willing) to afford.
At the end of the day, I am of the opinion that the JSF is probably the way ahead for us. I know that there are many potential problems (more delays, further cost increases) with this bird but IMHO there isn't anything more appropriate available. Our relatively large workshare in this programme should help to ease the pain of unit cost increases.
The Typhoon is/will be a great Air - Air platform and one day in the future it will be good at Air - Ground. I do not, however, think that it will be as good at A-G as the JSF will be. This is mainly due to the stealth properties JSF will have and, if the statement made by Blair and Bush is true
, then we will have a true stealth capability in the Brit armed forces for the 1st time - bring it on!
Looking at the alternatives:
Rafale - a fairly decent jet but won't offer HM Armed Forces anything they don't already have in the Typhoon airframe except carrier compatibility.... does this make it worth buying?! I personally don't think so.
F-22 - again its another Air - Air optimised airframe, not giving us a decent Air - Ground capability. An amazing jet - don't get me wrong! But not what we need.
More Typhoons (Tranche III & beyond) - like I have said, it will be good at Air - Ground in the years to come, but its still optimised for the fighter role. No internal bomb bays or real stealth characteristics. We need JSF to balance the Typhoon fleet - this will give us 2 airframes, one that is great at Air - Air and good at Air - Ground and a platform that is great at Air - Ground and good at Air - Air.
Existing 4th generation jets (F-15,F-18 etc) - not a chance! We will get the latest technology and something that will be built (at least partly) by British workers.
All of this just my humble opinion - would like to hear others!
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