Our military, for more than three decades now, has been on a "shock & awe" kick. Fast and flashy has become preferred over slow and steady. Where before we crushed foes under the sheer ponderous weight of our forces, nowadays the goal is to look good on the news clips first and foremost. Hell, you could say it started with replacing the venerable old 1911A1 .45 ACP with the flashy 9mm Beretta but it goes back further than that. We always want the newest and shiniest toys, the ones with great PR departments pushing them, making them seem to be the answer to problems that didn't exist, but damn they look sweet! It all comes down to advertising. Advertising the equipment to those buying it, advertising the conflicts to those actually paying for it, and advertising the results to those who cast votes for it, all to a rousing audio track and lots of spectacular and colorful video.

I think it's about time we stopped listening to the rattle of the stick in the swill bucket and started paying more attention to what we actually NEED, vs what's being sold to us.

I've heard the last one on ATC freq. Controller told the pilot how he worked the same plane 20 years earlier at Norfolk Naval Station.

These are clearly roles the F-35 can take on. Lockheed is certain of it.

Normal cruise speed 405 mph.

All modern aircraft have four dimensions: span, length, height and politics.

The F-18 version doesn't do the job?

(I really don't know...haven't paid much attention to this topic.)

Just another result of Oblowhole's sequestration.