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Re:The F-35 is losing the trade war by n4r9 on Saturday August 23, 2025 @03:02PM (#44998236)
Which aircraft models would be more suitable for European countries to give a deterrent against potential threats like Russia?
Re:The F-35 is losing the trade war by mrweasel on Saturday August 23, 2025 @03:52PM (#44998617)
While I'd generally say that the F-35 is probably the best (one of the best) option for countries like my own (Denmark), who need/want a plane that can do a bit of everything, we also need to see what's happening in Ukraine.

If you have a large country and can hide your airfields hundreds of kilometers from the front, the F-16, Rafale, EuroFigther and the F-35 are all fine, but you have more options with the F-35. If you're a small country, like the Baltics, or Denmark, they are a silly choices if you expect to fight a battle at home. You simply don't have anywhere to service the planes after missiles and drones take out your three airfield equipped for the F-35. In those cases the SAAB Gripen is a much better choice. You can service is straight of a highway with basic tools and conscripts. It's also a plane designed to fight Russia, so if that the enemy you expect, it's fine.

Re:The F-35 is losing the trade war by monkeyshelli on Saturday August 23, 2025 @10:33PM (#45000815)
The Finnish Air force has nice videos on highway strip operation exercises with F-35A and Eurofighter Typhoon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fD6D4rjCPg

Re:The F-35 is losing the trade war by yyyk on Sunday August 24, 2025 @11:03AM (#45004747)
>after missiles and drones take out your three airfield equipped

It's not so simple to 'take out' an airfield. Actually it's very tough.

Re:The F-35 is losing the trade war by xdennis on Saturday August 23, 2025 @04:11PM (#44998755)
> Which aircraft models would be more suitable for European countries to give a deterrent against potential threats like Russia?

Ironically, S300's from Russia. That's what Ukraine used to deny Russia air superiority. You can fight the orcs with orc weapons but you cannot fight them with American made airplanes because the US can stop support at any time.

Re:The F-35 is losing the trade war by bigyabai on Saturday August 23, 2025 @03:20PM (#44998409)
The F-16 is cheap, attritable, highly available, and occupies a similar multirole mission profile as the F-35. It should be able to launch the same standoff munitions, albeit from a slightly further distance to avoid detection. It's likely they can be bought secondhand for ~1/10th the price of an F-35 and equipped with MBDA Meteor/IRIS missiles for a mean air patrol payload.

More realistically though, I'd imagine many European nations are eying twin-engine multirole fighters like the Rafale and Eurofighter. These have a larger range and payload than the F-35, bigger radars and pylons and the all-important high top-speed (mach-2 intercepts are a must-have bordering Russia). These can be had cheaper than the F-35 and are generally better suited to a high intensity inland conflict.

Re:The F-35 is losing the trade war by maciejw on Saturday August 23, 2025 @03:30PM (#44998472)
Thailand invested in Swedish Gripen recently.