[Suhiir]

Originally Posted by FASTBOAT TOUGH

Economics will always drive military decisions whether in terms of money or, in our world slots.

Always does.
I not-so-fondly remember taking up collections among the unmarried folks so the married ones could pay their rent/eat during the Carter years budget shenanigans.

Originally Posted by shahadi

A stealthy fighter/bomber only as long as the ammo stores are internal. Once those bomb doors open it is no longer stealthy. If it flies in CAS with external stores, and as I understand, with a reduced load as compared to the A-10, at least in the F-35B it is far from what the money bought.

The thing folks keep forgetting is the idea is the initial bombing missions with drastically reduced internal stores are to allow opposition air defense capabilities to be neutralized/reduced. After this has happened they can fly with full external stores, and be just as stealthy as say an F-16, because they no longer have to worry (near as much) about high-tech air defense weapons. Sure there will still be non-radar directed AA guns and MPADS and other heat seeking stuff but F-16s currently face that now and manage to still do their job.