John, how long was the Tomcat in service? How long has the F-35 been operationally deployed? Comparing their safety record is a little apples and oranges.
The F-35 has a lot of capabilities that can’t be discussed here. A friend of mine, a Marine colonel has deployed with the F-35 and he told me that once the pilot gets the hang of using everything, it’s an incredible platform. Personally, I’d much rather fight in a two engine platform with the redundant electrical and hydraulic systems.
I am going on developement/IOC and Hour for Hour up to this point.
The F-35 has the best safety record in history at this point.
It is open source that the F-35 can use the MADL to open a large AESA SAR aperture between 2 jets.
Block 4 jets will be even better.
I can understand how 2 engines would preferred but the F-35 so far has proven very safe for a combat jet.
