So if by some strange reason the F35 fell over completely, would you say that a split force of F15 and F18 would be in oz best interest or would the F18 SH meet all the needs of the RAAF?
There would be no point in splitting the fleet to Shornet and Eagles
1) JSF is not going to fall over completely, not even remotely close. None of the partners have talked about cancelling, if anything some have indicated deferral
2) why bring in another manned asset thats a logistics orphan where we are 10-12 years out from unmanned support squadrons. Thats not a journo prediction either, its appearing in planning docs now
SHornet is an interim, and will do the job on any if any deferral.
Ignore the ridiculous hysteria you see in newspapers and forums, where it counts is in Govt plans and the future force planners, and they want JSF
in fact some programs are already planning and actively building future capability around JSF intro