"...The total cost of LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.'s Joint Strike Fighter
program to develop a new tactical fighter will rise by $45
billion, or 22.6%, to $245 billion, the Pentagon said. In a
regular report to Congress on major weapons programs, the U.S.
Defense Department said the sharp rise in costs for the new
jet, also known as the F-35, was due mainly to revised
contractor labor and overhead costs, design delays, and a
postponement in the start of procurement from 2006 to 2007.
(Reuters 04:58 PM ET 04/05/2004)...."

Are we getting to the point in history where the development of new fighter
plane models is going to cease?

History has seen the demise of the chariot, the battering ram, the military
dirigible, the battleship, and even the hypersonic transport. So are we
pursuing the last fighter plane in the F-35? The unit price of modern
fighters is such that only a very few countries in the world can even afford
a fully effective air force. Also, we now know the key to success in air
combat is pilot training, not having the hottest airplanes. Witness two Navy
F/A-18s on a bombing mission in Desert Storm shooting down two Iraqi
interceptors while enroute to their target.

Today only three entities apparently can afford to develop new fighter plane
types. They are Russia, the European Union, and the good old USA. Other
nations like Communist China, India, or Israel seem to do little more than
develop variations on existing models. Even so, neither Russia or the EU
have been able lately to compete with the USA in new model development.

So is it becoming more and more difficult to justify a new model fighter
today, either in term of performance or cost. Will the F-35 be the last of a
breed?

WDA

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