WT Forums

So, how long 'til they're willing to commit the shiney new toy to combat? Really want to see how it performs in AF. Yeah, right.

http://gizmodo.com/5822551/the-first-f+ ... e/gallery/

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\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

Former Hogdriver flew it in!

Coach

Well, it took the F-22 8 years to go from first flight to \"deployments\".
And if there's one thing the government is good at it is becoming more efficient. </sarcasm>

It certainly looks mean enough. It also looks fast as hell.

Doesn't look as scary as a hawg, not entirely sure how it's going to fill those shoes either, I think it's just supposed to replace the Harrier/AV8B, and is very thirsty from what I understood of the documentary on Nova.

She's scheduled to replace the Hawg but I don't see it....talking to our pilots who just got back from Afghanistan they would get called into an AOR for a 30mm gun run and most times just the sound of the 30mm would have the enemy run....F-35 is a nice looking but just doesn't pack the lotter time or weapons punch of the A-10....

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The other thing relating to the plane being thirsty, that I learned from the Nova documentary, (I don't know if this is just a variant issue relating to the VTOL version) the plane can only manage 40 minutes flight time, without external fuel tanks, or mid air refueling.

Sounds more like interceptor performance than something supposed to be providing CAS.