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Comment by omalleyt | Hacker News Reader

For anyone interested in the dynamics of the Air Force that explain the abysmal performance of the F-35, and why the F-16 can beat it in a dogfight despite being commissioned 40 years ago, look up John Boyd or read "Boyd: The Fighter Pilot who Changed the Art of War." The Air Force is structured to enable and shelter operational failures such as the F-35

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Though I agree with you that all government agencies are political machines which have evolved to protect their bureaucrats; the F-35 was simply not designed to be a lightweight low-cost fighter. Comparing the F-35 to the F-16 is about as useful as comparing the F-105 to the F-86 (, which is to say not very informative).

Boyd thought that even the F-16 was overweight and over-sized (and he may have been correct).

> Boyd thought that even the F-16 was overweight and over-sized

... compared to what it could have been, and would have been, had he somehow completely gotten his way, sure. It was a disappointment to him, but it's still pretty good in energy–maneuverability theory terms.

And it's worth comparing the F-105 to the F-86 in dogfighting because dogfighting just keeps happening in wars, decades after it was predicted to cease.

Curious, what was the last time anyone scored with a cannon on a modern jet fighter vs another jet fighter?

Maybe one of the air-to-air kills in the Eritrea-Ethiopia war was cannon? idk...

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