> Yes, modern jets have even more tech, and stealth and stuff, but their complexity and and difficulty of manufacture doesn't offset the drop in volume.

> So quality went up, but quantity went way down, and as a result their total effectiveness is less than the generation they're supposed to replace.

Not sure why you think this.

The 5th generation F-35 is a great airplane[1], and they've made 1300 of them since 2016.

The 4th F-16 (also a great plane!) had 4600 built since 1976.

[1] Yes, despite all the negative press and the amount of time it took to get right, it's a great plane. See eg https://theaviationist.com/2016/03/01/heres-what-ive-learned... where the editorializing is anti-F35 but the pilot who flew it only has positive things to say.

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torginus 11 hours ago | parent [-]

> The 5th generation F-35 is a great airplane[1], and they've made 1300 of them since 2016.

Because in that time, F14,F15,F18 and F111 variants have been made as well, the total number of which is more than 10k. The testament to the usefullness of these is that they're still being made.

And the thing is each of these 4th gen planes generally carry significantly more weapons externally, than the F35 does internally.

So while I don't dispute that the F35 is individually a great plane, I still don't think the quality X quantity metric of a pure F-35 fleet is higher than a 4th gen fleet.

Which is echoed by US procurement, because if it was, they'd have stopped building other planes, just like the stopped building F-4s not long after 4th gens entered service.

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nl 8 hours ago | parent [-]

> Because in that time, F14,F15,F18 and F111 variants have been made as well, the total number of which is more than 10k. The testament to the usefullness of these is that they're still being made.

The F-111 is a 3rd generation fighter-bomber jet.

Putting that aside, the F-18 Super Hornet is a 4.5 generation plane that is pretty different to the F-18. It was created as a stop-gap because the F-35 was behind schedule.

The F-16 is in production to sell to air forces that can't afford the F-35.

The F-15 is in production to fill gaps because of slow production of the F-35.

The F-14 isn't in production.

> And the thing is each of these 4th gen planes generally carry significantly more weapons externally, than the F35 does internally.

This isn't true.

The F-35 can carry 22,000 lbs of payload. The F-15 can carry 29,000 lbs, the F-16 15,000 lbs, the F-18 18,000 and the F-14 could only carry 14,000 lbs.

So the F-15 is the only one that can carry slightly more than the F-35 and it is way less stealthy carrying external weapons. The others carry less and are less stealthy.

There is a reason the F-35 has won every fly-off against the Typhoon, Rafael and the Gripen.

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rkomorn 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Off topic but I can't help but snicker every time someone gets autocorrected into writing Rafael instead of Rafale (which I literally just had to correct, myself).

	▲	nl 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Argh!