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In reply to the discussion: Air Force investing $12B in F-15s [View all]tclambert
(11,089 posts)yet losing in a test dogfight against just one F-16, it looks like the F-35 program won't last much longer, either. Worldwide (mostly Israel), the F-15 has won 100 out of 100 fights.
With long-range bombers, the Air Force has done even worse. We still fly B-52s, the same planes that featured in "Dr. Strangelove." B-1s never worked very well, and B-2s cost nearly a billion each. How can you risk flying in hostile air space in something that costs that much? They should keep it locked in an armored hangar and never let it out.
The real advances in fighters and bombers has been in the weaponry. Smarter bombs and missiles that can hit targets more accurately from much farther away make the aircraft much more deadly. And then the revolution in unmanned aircraft, leaving the pilot on the ground, far, far away promises giant leaps in performance capabilities. Piloted fighter aircraft have to limit the G-forces during maneuvers so they don't knock out the pilots. We could in theory build UAVs with maneuvering capabilities that would kill human pilots.