BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

On the surface, it would appear as though the United States Navy is continuing to give lukewarm support to the F-35 .  By lukewarm, I mean do everything but leave the program outright .  Cutting orders, placing more emphasis on electronic attack and standoff weapons, and even outright stating that " stealth maybe overrated ". Not only that, but the USN needs to make up for F-35C development delays by  extending the life of its legacy F/A-18C/D Hornets , much like Canada has done.   In the meantime, the slack has to be picked up by the newer Super Hornets .  The trouble is, these Rhinos have already been quite the workhorse thanks to increased operations (War on Terror, ISIS, etc, etc...).  This extra pressure on the Super Hornet fleet could lead to the need for their own life extension program being needed sooner than later, leading to a similar problem. Simply put, in order for the USN to maintain its current level of fighter power into the foresee...

In news that will surely have repercussions to the JSF program, the United States Navy has chosen to cut back their F-35C orders until 2020 by as much as a third.  Instead, the USN will pursue more stand-off weapons (ie: ALCMs).  The news can be seen here:   http://aviationweek.com/defense/f-35cs-cut-back-us-navy-invests-standoff-weapons "The Navy’s budget priorities reflect the views of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert. In June 2012, shortly after he was appointed as CNO, Greenert published an article in the Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine that downplayed the importance of advanced platforms, including stealth aircraft, in favor of “payloads” including standoff weapons." In order for the F-35 to meet its production goals over the next few years, those USN sales will have to be made up some other way. Otherwise, its price will remain high, resulting in the "death spiral" or, at least, a "zombie shuffle". 

Thanks for the link Canuck Fighter! http://www.cnas.org/sites/default/files/publications-pdf/CNAS_CarrierAirWing_white.pdf For those who missed it, commenter Canuck Fighter  posted a like to this excellent white paper regarding the United States Navy and the decision it will have to make regarding its carrier air wing. For those of you not willing to delve into the report, here is the general gist of the USN's options. Option 1:  Damn the torpedoes...  Full speed (slowly) ahead .  The F-35 is already late, and may not see wide use from American super carriers until at least 2025, possibly even later. By then, the USN's current legacy Hornet fleet will be worn out and obsolete.  Without the JSF waiting in the wings, fighter capability will be severely reduced as the USN's current Super Hornet fleet will be tasked with pulling double-duty. This does have the option of being the "easiest" route to follow, as well as reducing spending in the short...