A widespread concern is what would happen to Dutch weapon systems if the Americans were to withdraw completely as an ally. For example, Dutch F-35 aircraft are dependent on American software updates. Yet, Tuinman isn’t particularly worried about this.
“The F-35 is truly a shared product. The British make the Rolls-Royce engines, and the Americans simply need them too.” And even if this mutual dependency doesn’t result in software updates, the F-35, in its current state, is still a better aircraft than other types of fighters.
If you still want to upgrade despite everything, I’m going to say something I should never say, but I will anyway: you can jailbreak an F-35 just like an iPhone. (Crack it with your own software, ed.)
Manueverability matters less when you can fire a missile that will hit your opponent before they even know you are in the airspace.
Like I’m not trying to say the F35 is perfect, its far from it…
… But dogfights almost never happen anymore.
Air to air combat is basically # of missiles, range of missiles, threat detection/target acquisition vs stealth cpabilities.
And as we are seeing in Ukraine with drones, its very likely to become … nearly Battle Star Galactica (Newer Reboot) style realtime cyberwarfare battles.
Like, if we ever get to the point of ‘Space Battles’, they’re gonna be as much remote hacking contests as they involve any kind of physical weaponry.