Just a few thoughts for the day.
If F-35 program woes continue, LRIP-4 could be the "peak-production" mentioned by Canada's DND boss MacKay. He thought it would be in 2016. LRIP-5 will of course have less aircraft than LRIP-4.
Fixed price contracts as a future? Well we have seen that DOD can only afford 30 aircraft for LRIP-5. What the vendor does to improve this situation is well, up to the vendor.
USAF is going to have to do more upgrades for its F-16 fleet to make up for the short fall. About 350 Block 4x and 5x aircraft will be where the money is spent.
Think about it. Neither the F-16 nor the F-35 will be able to stand up to emerging threats in the coming years, yet there is plenty of work to do for second-tier fighters.
For that, the F-16 and F-18 bring more capability to what the joint coalition commander needs. And with less expense. Maybe the USAF can prove they are frugal?
Each F-16 upgrade will be $9.4 million.
The F-35 won't see anything that the joint warfighter needs (blue-force tracker and Link-16) until a notional (fantasy) Block 4 thru 6.
The F-35 takes money away from other DOD communities that really provide value. Time to cancel the F-35.
