FOAS USA 2? A new type of war?

Interesting link:

www.janes.com...

It's starting to look like the USA has come to the same idea as the UK in tht in the none to distant future they too will need a new offensive air package.

So some questions need to be asked:

1. Maybe a new joint project with the US and UK to replace the Tornado and the FA18 around about 2012/15.

2. A Mass project taking in massive numbers i.e. all Tornado opperators so Germany, Italy, UK, Saudi and a few other USA, OZ, etc etc.

3. Also could this point to a future of long range sudden strike wars, time sensitive and important.

From some information about the UK that I've seen it looks as if that may be the new game.

Ideas & thoughts welcome!

RAB

I think the U.K. is up to it's eyeballs in mass deals with the Euro-fighter program. If anything I think the U.K. will buy U.S. JSF's to replace the harrier.

Another possibility would be to re-vamp NATO or scrap it and make a new alliance where one country provides the bulk of the air power and another surface ships and others troops and so on. Although I don't know how well that would work.

Another point is that all the western nations are putting alot of $$$ into long range, super long loiter, armed UAV's and satellites with directed energy or conventional weapons which could be the "real" future of airpower, however "un-romantic" that would be.

After reading the Janes article, my impression is that they are referencing, per se', the DARPA Project Falcon and the numbered sub-projects stemming from and within it.

Here are some related past ATS information and discussions on this Project and those connected to it:
Project Falcon





seekerof

looking4truth, the UK is already buying the F-35 to replace the Harrier, the FOAS is a completely different programme which is aimed at replacing the Tornado which its hoped will follow on from the end of Typhoon production, a Typhoon variant is one of the many different options being looked into.


If the USA now has the same sort of requirement how likely might a US/UK development of the proposed F/B-22 be?

I didn't realize how many countries were signing onto the JSF program, US, UK, Canada, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Turkey and possibly Netherlands and other Nato countries.

There is one confusing sentence in the article.......

In the meantime, they are investing time, energy and money in the development of 'affordable' solutions to an increasingly pressing set of operational needs in the short and mid-term.

What does that mean, exactly?

I understand the need for a new bomber force but they are talking 20+ years out, what are the "affordable" solutions in the mean time? I think it means UAV's and new smart munitions, not rapid production of a new project, joint or otherwise.

If the USA now has the same sort of requirement how likely might a US/UK development of the proposed F/B-22 be?

The FB-22 has a very good chance of being developed around 2013, it would cost a fraction of the price to build it because of the work already done on the F/A-22 instead of developing it form scratch.
Is the FB-22 concept just for the Air Force or for the Navy as well?

FB-22





[edit on 14-6-2005 by WestPoint23]