https://sputniknews.com/military/202102251082181823-outrage-online-in-wake-of-reports-of-usaf-wanting-new-fighter-jet-programme-putting-f-35-on-shelf/
Last month, the US Department of Defense formally decreed that a decision on full-rate production of the F-35 jet is on indefinite hold due to technical challenges and the impact of COVID19.
The news of the US Air Force launching a study to develop a new fighter jet, more suitable for a “low-end fight” than the expensive F-35, sparked outrage online after a Forbes article described the report as “a tacit admission” that the fifth-gen fighter had failed.
Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said on 17 February that USAF was launching a study to develop a fighter that has a fifth-gen capability, a sixth-gen capability as well as “a mix for the lower-end fight”. He refuted the idea of buying more F-16 fighter jets, since they were developed in the 1970s, saying he needs a “clean sheet design”, a “fourth-and-a half