Originally Posted by
LowObservable
I don't believe it was ever sold as equal in capability to F-16 in the air superiority role.
You can believe that if you wish, but you are quite wrong.
The acquisition of this platform began about 20 years ago.
My, how the force structures and planning assumptions have changed over the years since, eh?
I think Ken is more right than wrong.
The air superiority fighter, before
that buy was severely cut, was to be the F-22 with JSF filling in
the multi role position. Of course, we must add in the "real expensive Harrier" as well .... thanks to how Joint Requirements arrived at what it is/was they wanted, and to allies who won't build cat and trap carriers, but still wish to have some FJ afloat capability.
But the basic customer, which were the US armed forces, didn't buy this as an air superiority fighter. That program was already off and running.
For nations with fewer dollars in their budgets, the F-22 wasn't available due to cost but there were also limits on that kit being exported anywhere for other reasons.
This leaves various partners and allies with looking at how to arrive at a 5th gen fighter (in small numbers that could still take advantage of a long production run that the Americans were setting up) was going to have to do Air Superiority too ... even though the platform was multi role by requirements definition. Why? Most of our allies have small forces, in sheer numbers, and so have to get a lot out of whatever it is they buy.
So let's be clear: F-35 was never built as "air superiority fighter" from the ground up.
It is forced to fill that role in projected inventories due to a whole lot of other factors, which include politics, budgets, force sizes, and the cost benefit of reducing the number of different systems in various inventories.
That last gets whacked due to the price we are seeing realized, which I am pretty sure each person in this thread agrees as one of the great stains on this programs shirt: this thing's turned into a seriously expensive aircraft, which is in direct contradiction to original program objectives.