When are the Thunderbirds getting an upgrade?

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RingGiver@reddit

Not soon, because:

Something has gone horribly wrong if either the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels are needed for a combat deployment and they have plenty of F-16s to give to the Thunderbirds for the next few decades.
The F-35 is single-seat only, so neither squadron will be upgrading to that even if the DoD wants to pay for something that costs that much. Maybe their respective NGAD, but that's probably way too expensive. Probably a trainer due to price differences.

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fuckingscott@reddit

The hornets and vipers used by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds are all single seat aircraft. The Blue Angels just moved away from the baby Hornet but are still in a single seat config.

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bleachorange@reddit

I dont foresee the F16 getting replaced for a while. Nothing more modern is really cheaper/more aerobatic and they have plenty in inventory.

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digger250@reddit

I'm not sure you'd want the old tired airframes pulling 9g in front of a crowd of spectators.

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Left_Chemistry_9739@reddit

All I know is that if they switch to F-35s, I will no longer go to air shows with the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels.

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IAmQuixotic@reddit

They’ll probably go to the T-7 once they’ve become the new standard trainer

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real_pasta@reddit

Why would they go from a full scale fighter to a trainer? They don’t use the T38 so what would make them choose the T7?

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digger250@reddit

F-16 unit price is in the neighborhood of $70m. T-7 is roughly $20m.

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UrgentSiesta@reddit

The ones they fly are at least a couple decades old and therefore fully depreciated.

AFAIK they never get new aircraft, either, as the most advanced models go to from line units.

There’s also a MUCH larger pool of Vioers from which to draw, whereas there won’t ever be many Red Hawks.

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digger250@reddit

I thought the last F-16 was delivered way back in 2005

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not-a-governor@reddit

I love this

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IAmQuixotic@reddit

Because an F-16 isn’t that much more expensive than a T-38. An F-35 is that much more expensive than a T-7.

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UrgentSiesta@reddit

They won’t need to.

Plenty of older Vipers in the pipeline. And the Redhawkmis hardly a kinematic aircraft

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LPNTed@reddit

Kinematic is a curious word choice.

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UrgentSiesta@reddit

Only if you don’t know the definition 🤙

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Sufficient_Layer_279@reddit

It’s a perfectly cromulent word.

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LPNTed@reddit

IDK about "perfectly".. LOL.. Using perfectly with cromulent is oxymoronic.

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Sufficient_Layer_279@reddit

(It’s a joke from The Simpsons)

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LPNTed@reddit

Ah. TY.

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Aviator-Intelligence@reddit (OP)

Does the T-7 have a similar design to the T-38?

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IAmQuixotic@reddit

Not really in my opinion but it’s subjective I suppose

All trainers look somewhat alike imo

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digger250@reddit

It'll be fun. You can troll them by calling them F/A-18s.

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-burnr-@reddit

laughs in Snowbird

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BackgroundGrade@reddit

Something has to compete with the B52 for longest service life.

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PoolRamen@reddit

Well...

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Blue_Etalon@reddit

Seeing a squad of BUFFs in Thunderbird Paint would be awesome.

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FluffyFlamingo444@reddit

ChatGPT makes some interesting choices

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TheHamFalls@reddit

Make this the Fat Albert of the Thunderbirds, please.

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A-29_Super_Tucano@reddit

They won’t get an upgrade for a long time, unless it’s another upgrade of the F-16.

Hypothetically, if they were to switch aircraft in the future, they won’t switch to a 5th or 6th generation fighter because that would be far too expensive and they don’t have 2 seat options. I’m guessing they would go for the T-7 Red hawk, since they’ve used trainers before and it would be far cheaper.

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