What if both of these programs were cancelled early in their development? What jets would the countries who were going to buy these jets buy? How would their doctrine change without these jets? I saw a thread like this on another forum and wanted to see what everyone here thought .

Well the Euro Fighter is in production and has been for a few years and it now goes under the name of Typhoon

I know that, I just asked what it would be like if it had been cancelled early on.

If they had not been produced then some thing else would have come along. The planes that were flying before the Euro or JSF were over thirty years old and why would some one want to buy a 30 year design

The rafale, gripen, mig-29, su-30/35, and late block f-16s were all available then, as well as the f-15 and f-18 still being common. And yes the f series were 30 years old, but they were continually upgraded and are still viable options to this day.

Originally Posted by HindStrike

I know that, I just asked what it would be like if it had been cancelled early on.

Knowing the stupidity of the British government, they would probably order the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Battle of Britain Flight to be made ready for operations.

The problem is that buying stuff from any one apart from your own country leaves you open for problems if you pursue a policy that they disagree with. Then you find your supplies are cut of and you have a load of expensive junk om your hands.

Why couldn't you get the gripen then, bae owns saab i think and they are a neutral country, so no political bs to deal with. The gripen might be good because it is all you would need for defense of the home islands and when the sea gripen comes along, you have the perfect jet for a medium carrier like the uk operates. And just think how many could be put on the queen elizabeth class carriers.

The new carriers are only designed to take VTOL and could not operate any thing else, thats the labour governments thinking for you.

I don't know why the f-35 was designed in a vtol version when a dedicated vtol jet would suit the purpose far better. If only we had the super harrier.