> 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.

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).