@MilHistNow The Wildcat was outclassed by the Zero but not by as much as popularly believed. In the hands of an experienced pilot playing to its strengths, it was more than able to hold its own.
And if the Wildcat lost, the pilot still had a decent chance to live and learn from his mistakes
@RSE_VB@prayerborne IIRC the Soviets expected to have to send over 100 bombers to hit an American carrier and that they'd suffer nearly 100% casualties.
@npffpn@CACP_ACCP No. It's a privacy and security nightmare that needs to ne scrapped entirely.
Do some actual police work and get a warrant instead of destroying privacy for everyone.
@TomcatJunkie I believe the Super Hornet was considered at first along with the Rafale and a few others. The F-35 won out. Then there was a bunch of political bullshit and the F-35 order got deferred. Another competition was held and the F-35 won again.
Now there's more political bullshit.
@wbridgefa@GuardianUSAF The main argument for it is that it's cheaper to buy and operate. Which is fine if we're buying it for peacetime duties. And it would have done fine in missions like Afghanistan.
But if we're equipping the air force to fight an actual war, the F-35 is the only choice.
@kamikazecash My grandpa used to travel a lot for work and any time he had a layover he'd hit up timeshare presentations. Then when the hard sell started, "Sorry, I have a plane to catch."
It was like a perk of the job for him