Not quite sure what's going on, but there's talk about a new inexpensive fighter to replace the F-16 since the F-35 won't seem to be made in enough numbers. Also the author claims the F-16 is 60 years old which seems a little off since the first deliveries were in the late 70s and there are still foreign sales of the latest versions. I thought the biggest issue with the F-16 was that it was meant to be lean, with limited range and that tiny nose that couldn't host a large radar like in an F-15 or F-14.
I was wondering why there had to be a joint strike fighter program. It just seemed like specializing with three different aircraft would have been easier to customize. And I'm sure the US Navy would have preferred twin engines.
The U.S. Air Force Just Admitted The F-35 Stealth Fighter Has Failed
The U.S. Air Force’s chief of staff wants the service to develop an affordable, lightweight fighter to replace hundreds of aging F-16s and complement a small fleet of sophisticated F-35 stealth fighters. But an affordable, lightweight fighter is exactly what the F-35 was first conceived to be.
www.forbes.com
I was wondering why there had to be a joint strike fighter program. It just seemed like specializing with three different aircraft would have been easier to customize. And I'm sure the US Navy would have preferred twin engines.