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The truth is that these days no replacement for a fighter jet would be that much superior to what it’s replacing not because it’s poorly designed but because wh

The truth is that these days no replacement for a fighter jet would be that much superior to what it’s replacing not because it’s poorly designed but because what it’s replacing has had 40 years worth of improvements and refinements. What is the scope of the improvements and refinements? I’m hard-pressed to think of something you could replace “fighter jet” with and have the statement be true. Computer? Automobile? Spacecraft? Telephone? Probably not. Dwelling or building? Potentially... Is this a Ship of Thesius situation where every part of the F-16 has been redesigned and replaced over time, but it’s still called “the F-16”? Was forward-compatibility a design goal? Was it just designed at a time where the state-of-the-art was at a ‘sweet spot’ of sophistication such that the overall structure had design longevity but the guts could be replaced?

dogma1138 8y ago
>What is the scope of the improvements and refinements? The current F16 has very little in common with the original one that entered into service in 1978, even the air-frame was redesigned several times, new engine, new avionics new everything, the modern F16 blocks (C 50/52 onward) are like 6000 lbs heavier (naked) than the F16A naked while having a longer range and larger carrying capacity. >Computer? Automobile? Spacecraft? Telephone? Probably not. Dwelling or building? Potentially... Yes and no, in this analogy the F16 isn't a Laptop Model X123 but rather just a "Laptop", in the desktop PC world just a "case" and on top of that if the case could also be heavily modified. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon_variants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting... And in space you can see it today take a look at Space X and the differences implemented in Falcon 9 during it's development from block to block. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9#Launcher_versions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9#Launcher_versions

dogma1138 8y ago

>What is the scope of the improvements and refinements? The current F16 has very little in common with the original one that entered into service in 1978, even the air-frame was redesigned several times, new engine, new avionics new everything, the modern F16 blocks (C 50/52 onward) are like 6000 lbs heavier (naked) than the F16A naked while having a longer range and larger carrying capacity. >Computer? Automobile? Spacecraft? Telephone? Probably not. Dwelling or building? Potentially... Yes and no, in this analogy the F16 isn't a Laptop Model X123 but rather just a "Laptop", in the desktop PC world just a "case" and on top of that if the case could also be heavily modified. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon_variants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting... And in space you can see it today take a look at Space X and the differences implemented in Falcon 9 during it's development from block to block. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9#Launcher_versions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9#Launcher_versions