Posted on 09/30/2014 8:58:28 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Mig-31 does not have IRST, nor is it anywhere as agile as Typhoon, so it would not be expected to be an equal adversary.
The SU-35 and PAK-FA, on the other hand, both employ IRST and are stunningly agile....like "OMG....did you see THAT?????" agile.
However, few of either exist, probably zero are combat operational at this time.
So, no real threat from Russia now, but if those two are produced in quantity be prepared to lose some Raptors.
Can’t argue with that. Survivability killed by “gibmedats”.
The Mig-31 does have an IRST though I’d guess it is more optimised for an anti-bomber/cruise missile role than air superiority.
All these other gen 4 jets mentioned still cannot beat an F-15. And the plane is 40 yers old.
My bad, it’s the OLS family.
Here is an assessment of PAK FA/T-50/SU-50 from Dr Carlo Kopp and Peter Goon, Air Power Australia in 2010.
"The available evidence demonstrates at this time that a mature production PAK-FA design has the potential to compete with the F-22A Raptor in VLO performance from key aspects, and will outperform the F-22A Raptor aerodynamically and kinematically. Therefore, from a technological strategy perspective, the PAK-FA renders all legacy US fighter aircraft, and the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, strategically irrelevant and non-viable after the PAK-FA achieves IOC in 2015 (now scheduled 2018)."
"Detailed strategic analysis indicates that the only viable strategic survival strategy now remaining for the United States is to terminate the Joint Strike Fighter program immediately, redirect freed funding to further the F-22 Raptor, and employ variants of the F-22 aircraft as the primary fighter aircraft for all United States and Allied TACAIR needs."
"If the United States does not fundamentally change its planning for the future of tactical air power, the advantage held for decades will be soon lost and American air power will become an artefact of history."
These are very serious guys who know what they are talking about, check out their credentials if you doubt it.
Lockheed killed their own creation for more money.
Lockheed lobbied against their own F-22 to provide more money for the F-35 because they make more money on those airplanes and the F-35 profits were in danger if the F-22 continued.
I hate Lockheed for this until I die.
All of the tooling was carefully preserved, and manufacturing processes were carefully documented both written and on video, so that the line could be reconstituted in the future if more Raptors were needed or if spare structural elements were needed for repairs.
That said, you're probably right.
How do they stack up to a Mig 35? We are going to need more F-22 in the near future.
I read a memoir by a German officer (sorry, can't recall author or title now), who had been in an anti-tank unit. He related an incident in which a column of American tanks came around a hill, one by one. His anti-tank guns knocked off each one as it came around the hill. He wrote that he knew the war was lost when his unit ran out of shells before the American unit ran out of tanks.
Yes, quantity has a quality all it's own. However, that's no excuse for fighting the kind of "dumb-rich" wars we tend to fight.
Yes, quantity has a quality all it’s own. However, that’s no excuse for fighting the kind of “dumb-rich” wars we tend to fight.
Exactly right.
Exactly — but as another poster said, the F-22 was iced because the F-35 was more profitable… and I would be surprised if the F-35 wasn't planned obsolescence. (After all, how much will the government pay to 'update' the F-35 so that it works
?)
We need to build many more.
Exactly — but as another poster said, the F-22 was iced because the F-35 was more profitable… and I would be surprised if the F-35 wasn’t planned obsolescence. (After all, how much will the government pay to ‘update’ the F-35 so that it “works”?)
At the expense of national security. Eisenhower was exactly right about the Military Industrial Complex getting out of hand.
I’m afraid we lose the next major war.
The Suchoi T-50 “PAK-FA” will have L-band radar. That will cause some problems for F-22. The F-35 is only partly stealth for X-band radar and has a hot nose due to bad aerodynamics.
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