Quote:
Originally Posted by BenRoethig
I'm no fan of the French, but there is nothing I would to see more than a "super Rafale" protecting our carriers. The performance the Super Hornet gives up to make it a first class ground attack makes it unsuitable to fulfill the role vacated by the Tomcat. A lengthened and F414 powered version of the Rafale with the block II super hornet electronics package can.
|
My personal preference was to have gone more the Rafale route than the F-18E/F. Clean sheet of paper and make it do what we need. But, that was not in the political cards. We had to make the best of what we had and the F-18E/F is awesomely good. If I could give it more dead dinosaur juice, I would but not much else. As far as fleet air defense goes, we haven't had a need for the F-14 since the end of the cold war. That's when we really started to use the 'cat the way she should have been used from the very beginning!