@gambit @500 Does you hate it when you buy an "obsolete" aircraft
?
Actually, no. There is a wrong notion of the word 'obsolete' in use here.
By the time
ANY weapons system is deployed, the base technologies that are in that weapon system, in this case the F-35, is dated. But not obsolete.
Many military systems are unique simply because there are no or little equivalent use in the civilian sector. For example, when was the last time any homeowner, myself in included, had to use a 'non-sparking' hammer ? I doubt that until this post, most in this forum know that there exists such a tool. But for fuel container maintenance, a non-sparking hammer is an essential tool. Ships and aircrafts need this tool.
The integration of technologies in a combat jet fighter is also unique. Same uniqueness for a military ship. The HUD have existed for decades in aviation but why now is the HUD in automobiles ? Controls via electrical wires, aka 'fly by wire', also have been in aviation for decades, but only recently is 'drive by wire' in autos. But if we take the HUD from an 80s era F-16 and give it to Audi or Mercedes and ask their engineers to make it work in their cars
TODAY, they would laugh us out of their offices. The core principles for the HUD are the same for a jet fighter and the luxury sedan, but the core technologies for the HUD in a jet fighter must be proven and tested under conditions that the sedan will
NEVER experience. Proven technologies are
ALWAYS at least five yrs behind the labs, but until someone replaces the HUD, that 80s era HUD is not obsolete.