The F-35 can do everything better than any other plane. It's weapons are better, it's senors are better, and it's communication and situational awareness is much better. Thanks to the stealth, it has better survivability.

The only area it has some disadvantages in performance are the acceleration and maneuverability. Which is a small disadvantage, it still accelerates incredibly fast, just slower than a lighter plane, which is just physics. But it's not a slouch by any means. Plus the maneuverability is still being worked on, it's all fly by wire and they can do some really magic things with those systems once it's all tuned. They haven't started pushing it to the limits yet from what I've heard. (and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole "our plane sucks" thing was another tactic of spreading misinformation).

Here's the other thing. The F-16 can out maneuver and out accelerate the F-35. But every Russian fighter can out accelerate and out maneuver the F-16, anyway. Yet the F-16 always comes out on top. Why is that? Superior sensors, weapons, comms and tactics.

The F-35 is the best plane to achieve air superiority, because not many pilots have a death wish. Air combat is about survival, not about kills. Even in the Gulf war, the Iraqi's didn't want to fly against the F-15s because they knew they'd get just get shot down. They never even took off. So imagine how they would feel against a plane that can't be detected, let alone locked onto. A plane that can lock onto you and fire without you knowing. Not a good feeling knowing that at any moment you could explode without warning.

The A-10 is bullet proof, but not missile proof. It's a sitting duck against shoulder mounted IGLA's. Only the cockpit is bullet proof BTW which is great for the pilot, but not so great for the rest of the plane

I agree that the F-35 for the current war is overkill, but electronics and technology keeps getting cheaper day by day, and in 10 years time, even the current enemies will start buying more sophisticated systems. It's better to be prepared. As being reactionary like in WW2 and Vietnam was quite costly to the lives of allied forces. The F-35 will probably be in service for another 30 years, so it needs to try to meet as many requirements as it can for that time period, until the next plane comes out shooting lasers instead of missiles.

Also close air support these days is already done mostly by soft skin planes like the F-16. So not much difference there. Apart from the expense I guess. It's not low and slow either. You have a plane fly at such speed and high altitude the people on the ground never even know about it.


If you feel like it I'll give you a game of DCS World some time. It's a free flight sim (also used to train US national guard and other nations too). It really demonstrates the value of good sensors and weapons over flight performance

Now when it comes to being a waste of money, only time will tell. I guess either way it's win win though, because if there is no conflict that needs this plane it's only a good thing. And if there is a conflict we have the plane ready. But for the time being it really does seem like it's a waste of money. A lot of money, especially in a time of debt.

Your video, Cleaning Historic White Marble with a 1000W Laser, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

This achievement has earned you your "Pop Star" Level 41 Badge!

I was making a bit of a play on the whole "world's first" superlative used in the other video, as I realize laser ablation isn't exactly brand new. I'm fairly confident this is the world's second laser ablation of rust on videosift, but that doesn't sound quite as cool.

That being said, I also seriously want one even if I'm not sure exactly what I'd do with it if I had it.

World's First Laser Rust Remover has been added as a related post - related requested by blutruth on that post.

World's Second Laser Rust Remover has been added as a related post - related requested by blutruth.

Your video, World's First Laser Rust Remover, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

This achievement has earned you your "Pop Star" Level 40 Badge!

This video is about using a high power laser to remove iron oxide, the bronze sculpture one is using a high power laser to remove copper oxide, and the other one was using a high power laser to remove rubber. On that basis, that they all reference using a high power laser for cleaning, I thought they were related.

There is, in any case, no way to undo a related invocation so even if you are able to persuade me that I'm mistaken there's nothing to be done!

*related=http://videosift.com/video/laser-cleaning-a-bronze-sculpture
*related=http://videosift.com/video/Power-cleaning-with-a-laser

World's First Laser Rust Remover has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo on that post.

World's First Laser Rust Remover has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo on that post.

laser cleaning a bronze sculpture has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo.

Power cleaning with a laser has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo.

Can also strip paint from a car http://videosift.com/video/Stripping-the-paint-off-a-car-with-a-1000-watt-laser or stuck on grease http://videosift.com/video/Laser-Age-The-Laser-Dishwasher

World's First Laser Rust Remover has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579 on that post.

World's First Laser Rust Remover has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579 on that post.