At top and above — F-35s and F-16s. Air Force photos
War Is Boring: Test Pilot Admits the F-35 Can’t Dogfight
New stealth fighter is dead meat in an air battle.
A test pilot has some very, very bad news about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The pricey new stealth jet can’t turn or climb fast enough to hit an enemy plane during a dogfight or to dodge the enemy’s own gunfire, the pilot reported following a day of mock air battles back in January.
“The F-35 was at a distinct energy disadvantage,” the unnamed pilot wrote in a scathing five-page brief that War Is Boring has obtained. The brief is unclassified but is labeled “for official use only.”
The test pilot’s report is the latest evidence of fundamental problems with the design of the F-35 — which, at a total program cost of more than a trillion dollars, is history’s most expensive weapon.
Update: Pentagon’s F-35 stealth jet can’t win dogfight – report -- RT
WNU Editor: I would love to see this dogfight exercise done with an F-22 instead of an F-16 .... I suspect that it would not even be a contest.
9 comments:
WNU,
This is reminiscent of Nam and the F-4. In the early 60's the USAF declared the beginning of the missile era and the death of dog fighting. Initial encounters with Migs were bad, bad enough that ground crews started bolting on guns to the outside of the 4's. This improved things somewhat until production models started being produced with the guns inside the skin. The overall idea of the F-35 might be right, but the process of getting there is obviously not.
The F-4 story is a perfect example on how ingenious the U.S. is in changing something that does not work into something that eventually does. But my God .... this is a $1 trillion program.
WNU Editor,
The F-4's problem in Vietnam was that the Air Force Mafia had stripped it of it's gun, and the Sidewinders were "less" than reliable, not that it couldn't "fly".
Canada and many other U.S. allies have signed on to replace their fleets of (C)F-18's and F-16 blocks of Air Superiority Fighters, ( optimized for the ground strike role) with the F-35, hyped as an Air Superiority Fighter.
Now we find out that the F-35 is only (eventually, when the software is fixed), a 2 shot BVR Fighter, of limited stealth, that should never engage in a VR fight with even a limited,( drop tanks, 2 seater, Block C) Gen 4 Fighter,
And the problems in a turning fight, can't be fixed with software patches.
As a result, Canada and many other Allies, once the F-35 is adopted, will have to rely on British, French, German and U.S. F-22's, Eurofighters and Rafel's for air superiority and air defence.
Jay .... I personally know one of the top bureaucrats involved in Canada's F-35 procurement. Sighhh .... we are so up shits creek.
Jay .... I am not an NDP supporter (I actually support no party) .... but this makes sense .... http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/buy-super-hornets-abandon-victoria-class-submarines-new-report-recommends
On a more positive note .... as a fellow Canuck I hope you will also enjoy your Canada Day. My goal is ribs on a bar-b-q, some beer, and pleasant company. :)
WNU Editor,
For Canada's Defense needs, pretty much anything beat's the F-35, from the Eurofighter, the F-18 SuperHornet, the Griffon or the Rafel.
But the Defense Mafia will stall until all the other lines are shut down.
The Defense Department has't been about Canada's actual Defense since Pearson.
Have a good Canada Day, and Alton Brown the ribs,
( overnight damp marinade the ribs with brown or maple sugar, season salt, Montreal Steak Spice, Lime Juice, a little liquid smoke, a teaspoon of red chile paste)
(Tightly foil wrap, (or marinade in the foil), airtight, cook in the oven or the top of the BBQ for 4 hours at 270F, then refrigerate over night),
(Turns the sinues, silver skin and cartilage into edible collagen),
Coat in your favorite BBQ sauce and brown to warm through on the BBQ.
Creates fall off the bone, melt in your mouth, juicy ribs, with out the overnight slow cooking.
If you start now, and short cut on marinade time, they could be ready by tomorrow.
Wow .... this is a different way to bar-b-q ribs (doing the over-night that is). And you are right about the brown sugar .... there is something magical when it is put on ribs. To late to do the over-night .... but I have put the recipe aside and will try it in 2-3 weeks. Will update the results then.
CAN WE PLEASE DROP THE F-35 ALREADY?!!? I think the folks in charge of this program and the people investing in it are like gamblers who have fallen way behind. They think if somehow they keep putting good money after bad that this will somehow fix the problem. It won't. Furthermore they have so much of their self image wrapped up in this thing to admit failure would be devastating to them.
For the good of the American people especially our national defense, scrap this program forthwith. As for the people involved in the program, retire them with dignity and very likely much needed therapy.
B. Poster,
The problem is, other than the SuperHornet, a maximized out Gen. 4 airframe, there is "nothing" else in the pipeline.
Can't "restart" the F-22 lines with out a minimum of a seven year gap between retiring airframes and replacement,
And the U.S. Will buy Chinese or Russian aircraft long before they will ever buy Gen 4.5 Eurotrash.
Too many lucrative Careers and Future Careers on the line to kill the F-35, because when push comes to shove, it's all about Corporate Profits, not Defense.
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