With all the discussion around budget cuts and maintaining a leading edge with respect to air superiority, I found this interesting: Home - Textron AirLand No idea if there is any merit to this (sounds like the AF is not interested), but if drones become the increasing norm, is a low cost, multi-role fighter the wave of the future? I doubt it, but I'm not an expert in this realm by any stretch.
Every few yrs someone proposes something like this. They fly a prototype and make it all look good, but the prototype is never spec'd out to a final configuration that anyone would buy. As soon as that occurs the airplane performance suffers dramatically and is no longer viable. Might work for some small countries but then the economics of production don't work. US will never buy such a platform, at least not during peacetime or whatever we call today.
Yea, I figured as much. It's interesting that now with the debate(s) over F-22, F-35 and budgets that this crops up. I can't see it being viable.
Jim- Affirmative, they never succeeded with the F-20 because USAF never bought any and there was thus no viable parts distribution or maintenance infrastructure for foreign military sales.
Weren't they also trying to sell this as a T-38/T-1 replacement, as the USAF wants to go back to a single track pilot training program?
