Jets & Planes but no UAV's here.

[IronDuke99]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

They will ... eventually.
Lots of new tech with the stealth, computer assisted flight controls, and most importantly the battlefield info management.

The question of course is ... how much better then the F-16, F-18, A-6, and A-10 will it be? Obviously better in some respects and worse in others since it's not purpose built for a specific niche. Since the US Navy plans to keep the F-18 (primarily for the air superiority role) we can assume the F-35 won't match the newest F-18 in this role. But keep in mind (unlike the majority of people seem to be able to) it's primarily a ground support/attack aircraft not an air superiority fighter.

Agreed. However the F35B will have to able perform as a fighter (rather than only as a fighter bomber) in Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm service, since it will be the only fixed wing aircraft the two new, 65,000 ton RN Carriers can operate.

Some UK F35B's will be RAF manned and some Fleet Air Arm manned, although all are expected to operate from the Carriers as required. On which note many of us will recall the reluctance of the RAF to operate Harriers from Carriers once they controlled the whole Harrier force (before they helped kill it in favour of keeping more Tornadoes). But I digress.

Anyway, a Task Force at sea can sometimes, have land based air cover, although traditionally that has not by any means worked very well. Sometimes you can have help from allies, but your allies may not always be fighting in your war (ie, something like the Falkland conflict).

So from a UK point of view the performance of the F35B in the air to air role is of rather more than academic interest...