There is no "very near future" in military spending. It will take at least five and probably ten years to get a working high-G drone design with equivalent capability off the drawing board and into the air.
Meanwhile the F-35 is a fiasco for US and NATO force projection. The whole point of modern weapons - ugly and expensive as they are - is that they're supposed to be so intimidating you barely need to use them.
The F-35 fails to continue that tradition. The political consequences are going to be a lot more significant than the military ones.
> It will take at least five and probably ten years to get a working high-G drone design with equivalent capability off the drawing board and into the air.
Do you think we're going to have a shooting war with China or Russia before 2025? Because those are the only countries that can come close to challenging US air superiority.
Meanwhile the F-35 is a fiasco for US and NATO force projection. The whole point of modern weapons - ugly and expensive as they are - is that they're supposed to be so intimidating you barely need to use them.
The F-35 fails to continue that tradition. The political consequences are going to be a lot more significant than the military ones.