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Generally yes. If you have domestic defense contractors they can participate in various fitting and retrofitting programs without having to back engineer some o
by ChuckMcM 5y ago
Generally yes. If you have domestic defense contractors they can participate in various fitting and retrofitting programs without having to back engineer some of the SWaP[1] specs for the stuff the US defense contractors are making for the F35.
I also suspect it would help if you have air war doctrine differences with the US (like guns vs missiles as an example).
[1] Space, Weight, and Power. It defines the envelope within which the avionics and other gear have to operate.
- elabajaba 5y agoGuns vs missiles is a bad example (missiles clearly won decades ago). It's more about eg. wanting to use a locally developed missile instead of using one of the US approved missiles (because missiles have to be tested, integrated, and approved to be used on an aircraft before you can actually use them, which can take years even before accounting for politics.) The MDBA Meteor (European AMRAAM competitor, generally viewed as the best beyond visual range air to air missile (BVRAAM) currently) has been in service since 2016, but won't work on F-35s until ~2026. For comparison, it only took ~1.5 years to integrate the Meteor on UK Eurofighters.