Great, I just send an email to the Belgian DoD. I asked them why they are not on this program.

i thought i heard that Canada is thinking about getting the JSF, but i'm not sure. any news of that?

Canada really needs some new hardware. i mean hell we had T-33's still in service till about a year or 2 ago i think. that's just sad.

The US JSF Program Office has now met its initial target of securing $4 billion in support of the approximately $19 billion SDD process.

Canada, Denmark and the UK have all previously confirmed their involvement

Nor the Gripen nor the Mako are intended to fight against F-22. F-22 is for air dominance, Gripen and Mako are more in the line of F-16 *and* F-35.

Besides, nor Gripen nor Mako has to fight against F-35s, or are they? :p

...don't laught to death so quickly and take some respects. Do you think Boeing laughs to A380? Do you really think Boeing laughs at the Gripen and Mako as well? Think twice before posting, please...

I can laugh to death if I want, I'm the President !

Ok, let's be serious for one second ( but not 2 )

I'm aware of what you wrote. I wanted to point that the F-22 raptor is the best airfighter in the whole world, that's all. And when you have to fight, be sure that you have the best weapons availables. Otherwise,be ready to say bye bye to your familly and friends, and say hello to God or Satan.

But this thread is about the F-35 (should it be called X-35? or the F-35 denomination is official? I didn't see that oficially stated).

There is no point on having the 'bestest' of all 'bester' fighters if you can't afford a single squadron of them: Want the best? Then command the USAF (and the Navy) to only purchase F-22s, and forget about the JSF, which is 'inferior'.

As the Typhoon is almost as costly as the F-22, Makos or Grippens would make more sense in supporting roles, keeping the Thyphoons for the missions these really should be in.

Rafales? That are for the Frenchs! It's not a bad plane, only that the Eurofighter is better, a match for the F-22 (the F-35 would be beatened, but as stated, they are from different classes), or more exactly, for its intended targets: Su-27 --> Su-35

[Edited on 2002-12-15 by MakodFilu]

Originally posted by MakodFilu
But this thread is about the F-35 (should it be called X-35? or the F-35 denomination is official? I didn't see that oficially stated).

There is no point on having the 'bestest' of all 'bester' fighters if you can't afford a single squadron of them: Want the best? Then command the USAF (and the Navy) to only purchase F-22s, and forget about the JSF, which is 'inferior'.

As the Typhoon is almost as costly as the F-22, Makos or Grippens would make more sense in supporting roles, keeping the Thyphoons for the missions these really should be in.

Rafales? That are for the Frenchs! It's not a bad plane, only that the Eurofighter is better, a match for the F-22 (the F-35 would be beatened, but as stated, they are from different classes), or more exactly, for its intended targets: Su-27 --> Su-35

[Edited on 2002-12-15 by MakodFilu]

No, there is no official name.It's still X-35 I think.

Of course, you right. I don't think that we will see dogfight between these airfighters ( rafale, f-22,EFA....).

But it's stupid. It was a better idea to join the USA on the F-22 Raptor project ( who's the best one ).Less cost for everybody. It should be better to have an international project between all the EU nations and the USA. The same airfighter for everybody.

Originally posted by ultra_phoenix
But it's stupid. It was a better idea to join the USA on the F-22 Raptor project ( who's the best one ).Less cost for everybody. It should be better to have an international project between all the EU nations and the USA. The same airfighter for everybody.

No, it's not. Not everybody wants to join USA, nor will that do any good to Europe as we are already overdependent to USA. When a *true* international project arise, which *all* technology being transfered from USA to Europe and vice-versa, when production would be made without licenses (of European designs being built in USA *as well as* USA designs being built in Europe, whithout ristrictions), then we shall see.

In fact, LockMart is already in conversations with EADS, as Boeing already do in missile technology.

Let's face the simple facts here. Europe simply can't compete with US technology and industry.
The more countries that sign on to the JSF program the lower the per unit costs become.
Believe me Australia wouldn't be part of the program if they weren't getting value for money.

As for the JSF being almost as expensive as the F-22, that is entirely wrong.

On the FAS site :

The F-22 would cost between $US120m-200m whilst an F-35 would cost between $US28m-38m. That means you could buy at least 4 F-35's for one F-22.

the F-22 i believe for the moment is exclusively US, we aren't letting anybody else in on it

as already stated, the JSF isn't near as expensive as the F-22

and i doubt the EF-2000 is either because they are also different classes of fighter (Eurofighter is multi-role, F-22 is air-dominance so Euro-fighter = F-16/35)

Why is Boeing involved in this discussion? they didn't win the F-35 contract

the F-35 i've seen is now commonly called that by most people since the contract has been awarded

it's too bad there is no comparable European (non-russian) aircraft being offered to the F-22

Originally posted by KKing123

Why is Boeing involved in this discussion? they didn't win the F-35 contract

I believe that even though Boeing lost, it still subcontracts for the program.

I thought Lockheed rejected that idea?

I don't think they had a choice, the DoD tells them what to do. That's if they want the contract. However I believe that if Lockheed had lost, the same would have been happened for it.