Greenert was speaking about the next generation of fighter aircraft, but his comments could just as easily be applied to Lockheed Martin's F-35C, the carrier-based version of the joint strike fighter. Aviation analysts who watch the F-35 program closely say Greenert's comments reflect ambivalence among naval aviators about the F-35 as a strike fighter, especially compared to the tried-and-true F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets.Told ya so.
"It's not just Greenert, it's across the naval aviation community: They're just not that into the F-35," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at the Teal Group.
Greenert has expressed skepticism about stealth technology's value before, arguing in a 2012 paper that improving computing technology will render even the most stealthy aircraft more detectable.
"Those developments do not herald the end of stealth, but they do show the limits of stealth design in getting platforms close enough to use short-range weapons," Greenert wrote.
"It is time to consider shifting our focus from platforms that rely solely on stealth to also include concepts for operating farther from adversaries using standoff weapons and unmanned systems — or employing electronic-warfare payloads to confuse or jam threat sensors rather than trying to hide from them."
The bigger problem for the F-35?
The budget for the services.
Take a deep dive into the budget issues and things are bleak. The Navy needs a new boomer, keep the current fleet serviceable and build a few ships a year to just maintain the 300 ship fiction that it spouts. The USAF needs its next gen bomber, tanker and the F-35. The US Army is hanging on by a shoestring...its cut almost all the personnel that its sensible to cut and anymore heads into a risk area...and its so called modernization is a sad joke. They're simply maintaining equipment already in stock.
The USMC. Well you know my thoughts on whats going on there.
People are looking for the exits and preparing the ground for a quick get away.
