I found something interesting at the Lockheed Martin Website about a old but new aircraft for the Japanese Air Self-Defence force. I say we take that and run with it also.
http://www.lmaeronautics.com/products/c ... index.html
New life for the F-16 in Japan
Moderator: RLG MGMT Team
New life for the F-16 in Japan
Grim Diablo, Grand Admiral, Erebus System Survey Group
Death Angel, SGT, 13th MEU
Death Angel, SGT, 13th MEU
with the inception of the F22 and JSF, it's unlikely that our government will take on the f2. The current train of thought would be to eliminate all aircraft and replace them with the JSF, possibly some f22 in the mix according a documentary on NOVA and a few other respectable science/tech programs.
JSF can. It has thrust vectoring that will allow it to replace the Harrier also. I think one of the possibilities/probabilities is that all new carriers will not need catapults, which cuts the cost of new carriers and allows more flight operations options and configurations. I am not sure how they will launch the S-3's and E-3's and COD's if that is the case, but I think those planes are being replaced with one airframe. Maybe it will be an Osprey or something similar.
"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away." --Barry Goldwater
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