TR F-16 Özgür | Hürkuş - Fighter Trainer Aircraft Projects

[hawk21]

See, I agree mostly but I think people overplay the 4.5th gen. If a country has 5th gen available they'll opt for that. Taking the US as the prime example, the navy procured one final measly batch of super hornets basically to use up the budget and to appease Boeing.

The F15EX exists solely to keep the air national guard alive. It's more expensive than a goddamn F35. That's unacceptable. Even its supposed mission as a missile truck is mostly just internet bullshit, since it's never getting those proposed racks that would allow it to carry 20 AMRAAMs (not that that made sense. the jet would have been a complete pig.) It exists so that ANG can argue for a reason for its budget (and existence lmao), and representatives of each state love federal funds. It never even went through proper procurement. No bids or anything. It just one day appeared on the ANG list. Doesn't that just scream like a healthy procurement process to you?

The US no longer even purchases F16s of any kind. All newer US purchases of older fighters are inherently political procurements.

The world itself is becoming a contested environment leaving less room for older jets to move and with continued manufacturing of 5th gen planes, they're becoming cheaper and cheaper. The supposed advantage of 4.5th gens which is less cost of ownership is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

While I don't disagree with the bigger point you're making about importance of 4.5 gen vs 5th gen, the F-15EX is actually the worst example you could have come up with to support your point.

The F-15EX exists to carry extremely large ASAT and ALBM payloads as well as air-launched hypersonic missiles. It can fly faster than any other fighter (mach 2.8+) and reach higher altitudes too. It is able to go supersonic in a vertical climb. These give it an unsurpassed ability to launch ASAT interceptors that can reach higher orbits.

It is a plane that can perform roles which no fifth gen aircraft can.