Glad Rag - Many of the assertions made in the Independent's article were incorrect or based on out of date information. It also skipped over a lot of the positive facts about the programme. It is not what I would call a balanced view of the current situation and smacks of pre-SDSR maneuvering. The answer to Graydon's issue is to buy more F-35; however given that our strategic and regional situation is somewhat different to the Saudi's (not to mention their political processes!) his comparison is barely relevant.
The problem with pods is that they have a significant impact on the RCS of the aircraft, as Boeing know. The sales pitch for F-15SE or the Advanced F-18 is basically we can give you something that almost has some of the capability of an F-35 at a fraction of the cost. For some nations this would be attractive but not for the UK.
The current design of stealth drones come with their own limitations too, but you will not neccessarily see them discussed publicly by the guys working on X-47B, NEURoN, Taranis or the Chinese one.
Last edited by WhiteOvies; 13th May 2015 at 21:02.