Comment by gozucito
14 hours ago
But what would you rather have? 2000 Shahed/Lucas drones or a single F35? Same cost for both.
The saying "Quantity has a quality all of its own" is not obsolete in 2026.
14 hours ago
But what would you rather have? 2000 Shahed/Lucas drones or a single F35? Same cost for both.
The saying "Quantity has a quality all of its own" is not obsolete in 2026.
2000 shaheds are just a regular week in Ukraine.
90% of that are destroyed far away from targets and the other 10% do cause some damage, but it is usually far from being devastating as the drone is far from being very precise.
A single F35 which could penetrate air defense and go into the country would be a real problem. If Russia has 10 of them, I think it would significantly alter the current equation of power as it may allow for air superiority.
> A single F35 which could penetrate air defense and go into the country would be a real problem.
The difference here is an F-35 + precision weaponry + intelligence to locate high value targets.
It's always going to be cheaper / easier to use shorter-range munitions, which means the launch platform has to be higher / closer.
But without strategic intelligence (what high value targets exist, and what are they supporting?) and targeting intelligence (where are they right now, and where will they be?) neither of the other two capabilities are valuable.
Logistics and command inevitably trend towards centralization, because it's inefficient and expensive to decentralize everything (and at some point the tyranny of compounding logistics makes it impossible).
Where there is centralization, there's a high value target, and that's a job for the F-35 and exquisite standoff weapons.
Should forces be a mix of high-low? Of course! That's something the US realized in the 80s and is why we have the F-16! (still flying, being built, and exported!)
I think that "air superiority" thinking is part of what's changed.
USA/Israel forces have air superiority over Iran. That doesn't stop Iran being able to fly drones or missiles.
It does stop Iran from being able to launch a huge number of drones and missiles.
That they were able to launch >0 after losing air superiority is a testament to how much work is in the last mile.
So where is the air superiority over Iran? This only proves Palmer Luckey right. Future of warfare has changed drastically and all countries are taking notes from this War.
So why doesn't Ukraine have any F-35s?
im not so sure. Ukraine is sending drones over very long distances now, ducking through air defense.
youd want some number of both. The ideal defense net against shahed type drones looks very different from the ideal defense net against f35s. Namely, shaheds require very cheap and numerous interceptors and radars, and f35s require very expensive radars and interceptors (and a dream). Anything that works against an f35 would be an egregious waste against a shahed and anything that works against a shahed wouldn't against an f35
Depends. If I need to destroy a bunker, the Shaheds are useless. If I need to shoot down another aircraft (or a Shahed), the Shaheds are useless. That also goes for SEAD, targets that are far away, targets with ECM...
Also, the physical and economic footprint for that many drones isn't small, and a few smart bombs from an F-35 could put paid to your entire inventory.
A single F-35, because Shaheds don't have the legs required in the Pacific.
You can fit three Ukraines between Guam and Taiwan.
F-35 can fly more than once...