Is it all in computer hardware and software, or have we learned more about aerodynamics, material science, and engine construction between say, the F16 and the F35 Lightning II.
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The way the US military is funded makes it an inevitability that there will always be new fighter jets (and all the other stuff), even if they’re not necessarily better. Billions flows to military contractors who do R&D on all the things you mentioned and more. Maybe they have a big breakthrough in a few of them, maybe they don’t, but that doesn’t dictate the schedule for developing and producing new equipment. There’s no sense that the military will stick with the F-35 until there’s a good technological reason to switch. They announced development of a “sixth-generation” fighter jet just 2 years after the F-35 entered service.
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