N-a-B...
One thing that we do have to do is stop running programs that take 25 years from first-serious-money to IOC. It was unknown before 1980 (it would be like the F-16 starting development in 1955) and it is unsustainable.
There's no reason that we could not replicate LWF (YF-16/17) today - a 4-year build and test program using off-the-shelf propulsion and systems. And if we look at the history books, LWF/NACF happened because the civilian leadership realized that replacing every F-4 in the inventory with an F-15 or F-14 was an economic nonstarter.
As for subsonic... It will be interesting to see how much supersonic time the F-35B (fuel fraction = clean F-16) and F-35C (heavy, big wing = transonic drag) actually see on any given sortie. I have heard the latter called "a stealth YA-7F".
Last edited by LowObservable; 11th Jan 2013 at 14:00.