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It's too early days to know how this might turn out.

2035 is 13 years away. It's like trying to guess how the F-35 might turn out in 1993.


If digital design really is super fancy and speedy then there is nothing stopping them ripping up all the cool CGI so far and starting again with a common airframe. I believe strongly it will be a common airframe because otherwise the collaborative cost savings are not going to be there. Japan would need to fund a separate flight test R&D programme for a start.

Long range wouldn't hurt the RAF or Italian AF - a spiritual successor to Tornado wouldn't be a bad thing. Long range strike will be just as vital. The RAF has spent far more time post-1945 dropping objects onto people's heads than engaging in live Top Gun-esque dogfights.


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