The U.S. Military's $1,000,000,000,000 Question: Is Stealth Worth It?

[unhappycamper]

http://www.nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-us-militarys-1000000000000-question-stealth-worth-it-14158



This appears to be St. Ronnie's $3,000,000,000 B-2 bomber under a sheet

The U.S. Military's $1,000,000,000,000 Question: Is Stealth Worth It?
Dave Majumdar
October 23, 2015

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The U.S. Air Force has publicly embraced stealth as the end all and be all, while the U.S. Navy has taken a more skeptical approach. While Air Force officials publicly pronounce that the F-35 will be able fight alone and unafraid, the Navy has argued for balanced survivability using a combination of assets including electronic attack, stand-off weapons and, yes, some measure of stealth.

Part of the difference in the two services’ diverging positions can be explained by different political messaging strategies. Publicly, the Air Force doesn’t want to admit the utility of electronic attack or support platforms because they seem to believe that might erode support for the F-35. Meanwhile, the Navy has bills to pay other than for aviation and that service doesn’t see the performance differential between the F/A-18E/F and F-35C as being worth the massive cost plus up.

After a discussion with Air Force and Navy officials—it’s apparent that the truth lies somewhere in between. There is consensus that in the future as anti-access/area denial threats evolve, wide-band all-aspect stealth will probably be necessary. But that likely requires a large flying-wing aircraft like a strategic bomber. Moreover, support assets including electronic attack and cyber are going to be part of the mix. Against the Chinese or Russians, no one is going to be able to go it alone.

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But the problem for the Navy is that the F-35C is expensive both to buy and sustain onboard a carrier. There are many in the Navy that simply don’t believe that any added performance benefits the F-35C brings to the table would be worth the massive additional cost. Moreover, there is a growing understanding in the naval community that the F-35C fundamentally does not have the range or payload needed to keep the carrier relevant in the anti-access/area denial environment of the Western Pacific. Indeed, there have been suggestions that the Navy truncate or cancel its portion of the Joint Strike Fighter buy. But only time will tell…