Israel is buying in big. Now we see Scandinavia and Japan make the same choice, perhaps with more competition as in available options. But US critics insist it’s an unadulterated mess. Someone is full of crap. I just doubt that well funded, trained and experienced military air services would be so easily fooled.

Is criticism of the F-35 designed in part to re-start F-22 Raptor production?

This combat comparison scores all three jets on four aspects, which the Danish government defined as follows:

• Survivability: How well the fighter aircraft is capable of protecting itself against enemy weapon systems
• Mission Effectiveness: How well the fighter aircraft performs the task assigned.
• Future Development: The extent to which the fighter aircraft is expected to constitute a relevant operational and technically applicable fighter aircraft capability throughout its entire 30-year lifespan.
• Candidate risk: The risks that cannot be quantified economically.

The Danes have also decided that the F-35 will be significantly cheaper than the F/A-18 or Typhoon, mainly because they won’t have to buy as many jets in total.

Specifically citing that “the airframe of the Joint Strike Fighter is designed to be capable of flying 8,000 hours, whereas the Eurofighter and the Super Hornet are both designed to fly 6,000 hours,” the Danish government has determined that 28 F-35s can do the work of 34 Typhoons or 38 F/A-18s. Though the same documents actually recommend only 27 F-35s actually be purchased.

DefenseNews reports that Denmark has been shopping for an F-16 replacement for some time.

More: F-35 Beats Every Other Fighter Jet In Scandinavian Air Force Evaluations