PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - No cats and flaps ...... back to F35B?
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Old 4th Jul 2012, 16:35
  #1323 (permalink)  
peter we
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: london,uk
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"Have we asked what aircraft would ever replace the F-35B once it reaches its sell by date? The reason for this strange question is that a carrier is not a short term ship with a life span of just 10 or even twenty years."

Modern Military aircraft have a very long lifespan. The Harrier (1969) is going to be in service over fifty years as is the F-18 (1983) and other aircraft like the C-130 (1957), F-16 (1978). The Tornado (1979) should stay in service for forty years at least.

The reason why there was a high turnover of aircraft types at the start of the jet age is that the aircraft were too limited to operate effectively and caused huge death rates on carriers.
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