Comment by cm2012
11 hours ago
A lot of big words, but also inaccurate. If you compare the F-35 to basically any plane worldwide with similar capabilities, it's very reasonably priced. You can see that in that it's very popular for export, with pre-sales already sold out until 2035.
There are plenty of articles out there on this for those who want to Google it.
> If you compare the F-35 to basically any plane worldwide with similar capabilities, it's very reasonably priced.
If you compare corvettes to other sports cars, you'll find they are very reasonably priced. That doesn't make a corvette a good economical option for day to day commuting.
There are only 2 5th generation fighters available for export - the F-35 and the J-35. The F-35 is 40% more expensive than the J-35. No one is buying F-35s for the low price tag.
More to the point, the unit costs are low because the number of airframes scheduled to be built is enormous. The US needs to export hundreds of F35s to help distribute the massive cost of the development program. This development program was nearly 400% over initial budget, and the general managing the project was fired over it. The fact is the F-35 is far more expensive than it was intended to be.
The J-35 has just one export customer, Pakistan. And they have yet to even start operating these aircraft yet.
The market sure seems to favor the F-35, with 19 customers.
The F-35 is cheaper than most of the 4th generation fighters on the market. Cheaper than Eurofighter, cheaper than Rafale, cheaper than Gripen.
Cheaper to buy. But with double the operational costs and only 50% availability, this is a miniature part of the story.
> You can see that in that it's very popular for export
It's very popular for export since the US has been forcing their allies to buy them over any alternatives, this was shown in the WikiLeaks cables.
Nothing else is remotely as capable in the modern threat environment that most countries can actually buy. That's the cold truth. They can't buy anything else that compares and the best isn't for sale.
They have already lost two in the first real conflict. Doesn't seem like it's all that capable.
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The pressure was not "because it was the best thing for those countries or war". The pressure was because it was good for USA manufacturer and economy. It was one of the perks of being a leader of a group of allies - you can pressure them to buy your stuff.
Pre-March 2026 sales will be drastically different to post-March 2026, for obvious reasons.
Are those the right capabilities for the price, though?
If it was the right plane, full stop, wouldn't Ukraine be fielding a wing of them? No, because they're extremely cost constrained.
Was. Having a remote "power off" button, have the effect of chaning the mind of many potential buyers. Specially with Trump.