Posted on 06/28/2016 5:54:10 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
“0 losses in 8 dogfights against F-15E Red Air” The U.S. Air Force F-35A fleet continues to work to declare the Lightning II IOC (initial operational capability) scheduled in the August – December timeframe.
Among the activities carried out in the past weeks, a simulated deployment provided important feedbacks about the goal of demonstrating the F-35’s ability to “penetrate areas with developed air defenses, provide close air support to ground troops and be readily deployable to conflict theaters.”
Seven F-35s deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, to carry out a series of operational tests which involved local-based 4th Generation F-15E Strike Eagles belonging to the 366th Fighter Wing.
In a Q&A posted on the USAF website, Col. David Chace, the F-35 systems management office chief and lead for F-35 operational requirements at ACC, provided some insights about the activities carried out during the second simulated deployment to Mountain Home (the first was in February this year):
“The F-35 recently deployed from Hill to Mountain Home where crews, maintenance and support personnel conducted a number of missions. During that deployment, crews attained a 100 percent sortie generation rate with 88 of 88 planned sorties and a 94 percent hit rate with 15 of 16 bombs on target. These numbers provide a positive indication of where we are when it comes to stability and component performance.”
“Feedback from the events at Mountain Home will feed into the overall evaluation of F-35 capabilities. The second evaluation will take place in the operational test environment with F-35 mission sets the Air Force intends to execute after IOC. All reports will be delivered in July and feed into the overall F-35 capabilities report. The ultimate goal is to provide a needed capability to the warfighter to execute the mission. It is not calendar-based or event-based.”
“The feedback from unit operators in place today has been very positive for the F-35, not just concerning performance but the ability the aircraft has with other platforms. In particular at Hill, integration with the F-15E (Strike Eagle) has gone very well. We’ve also been demonstrating the ability to put bombs on target. All of that information will be provided to us in the formal IOC readiness assessments.”
The following interesting chart accompanies the Q&A.
It shows some stats about the deployment.
The fourth column shows something interesting: during the exercise, the F-35s were challenged by some F-15Es and suffered no losses.
Even though the graphic does not say whether the F-35s did shoot back at the F-15Es some analysts (noticing also the “pew pew pew” in the chart….) have suggested the JSFs achieved stunning 8:0 kill rate against the Strike Eagle.
However, the “zero losses” may simply mean that the F-35s were able to complete their assigned strikes without being shot down by the aggressors of the Red Air: considered that the F-15Es were probably equipped with the AN/APG-82 AESA radar and the Sniper ATP (Advanced Targeting Pod), the fact that the Strike Eagles performing DCA (Defensive Counter Air) were not able to “find” and/or “engage” the almost-IOC F-35s can be considered a huge achievement for the pricey, troubled 5th generation multirole combat plane.
Actually, this is not the first time the F-35 proves itself able to fly unscathed through a fighter-defended area: not a single Lightning II was shot down during Green Flag 15-08, the first major exercise conducted, more or less one year ago, on the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, during which the F-35 flew as main CAS (Close Air Support) provider.
At that time, several analysts claimed the participation of two test aircraft in the exercise was just a PR stunt, since the aircraft was still quite far from achieving a combat readiness required to really support the troops at war.
Let’s see what happens this time…
And Michelle is a size 8
This was an F-15E. The two seat strike-interdiction version of the F-15, optimized for air to ground and intended as the replacement for the F-111 Aardvark.
The air superiority/air supremacy versions of the F-15 are the single seat A and C models. Very different performance characteristics than the E, which is kind of a pig in the air unless all the extra pylons/conformal fuel tanks and sensor pods are stripped off.
So please don’t read too much into articles like this.
And to add, assuming a no holds barred simulated dog fight (as opposed to the RedFor aircraft flying simulated enemy tactics) is like to see how the Lightning II stands up against not just single seat F-15s but also F/A-18A/C/Es, F-16Cs, Eurofighter Typhoons, Rafales and Gripens (assuming later mark members of the Su-27 family are unavailable).
That having been said, the real beef I have with the F-35 is that it’s been sold as a fighter rather than a very capable stealthy light strike platform. Which is what it really is.
Story has already been posted many times, I think. The true story is that the rules were set to restrict the F-15 and give the F-35 the advantage.
NEVER believe a politically charged story without knowing all the facts.
Yeah but the Israeli F-35's are already going to be mod-ed for IAF requirements making comparisons a little less straight-forward.
I would hope the latest planes would dominate 30 year old plane. If it didn’t what is the point?
F15e is not the latest and greatest f15.
The f15se is. Upgraded electronics and some added stealth capability.
The truth of the matter is that all new airframes go through these issues. The F-16 was called a Lawn Dart when it was first tested and it’s been a workhorse ever since. The F-22 had oxygen problems until just a couple of years ago, causing hypoxia in its pilots, and now it’s the star of the air war over Syria. The Osprey was also a mess when it was in development. This article indicates the F-15, the AWACS and the C-17 were also heavily criticized during development: http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2010/August%202010/0810failures.aspx
A forty-year-old airplane that cost 30 million dollars got beat by a one-year-old airplane the cost $309. Shocking
In wartime, the debugging of the F35 would be happening in the field. At least there is time to try to get it right without worrying about combat failures. Unfortunately, this also lets everyone milk the budget.
F35 costs 150-340 million each with navy version highest
F15k cost 100 million
Circa 2000 model late 1970s F series generation maybe DEFG run 25-40 million each
We’re not defending fortress Europe from the east anymore
I thinking questioning overproducing super high tech is valid
Who do we fight in air air or air defense that can compete against the highest end?
The Chinese .....not yet
Exactly....
why would you test air-to-air combat capabilities against an F-15 E Strike Eagle?....The “E” is not the fighter version of the F-15 ...the “”E” is the ground attack version of the F-15
The plane is a joke. This is pure propaganda. It is orders of magnitude slower, less maneuverable, short legged and lightly armed compared to the strike eagle.
Saying you sneaked a low observable strike plane to a target is not the same as beating a strike eagle. Idiotic. typical USAF/contractor propaganda.
The Israelis are buying the F-35 in limited quantities with the intent to use it as it should be used: stealthy light strike. You won’t see the Israelis acting like its a fighter
They’re saying they’ll include in the buy some STOVL F-35Bs, which will be used in the dispersed nuclear response/retaliation role.
Yeah, lets upgrade the mach 2.2 F-15 with the engine from the mach 1.6 F-35.
I suspect the mission profile of the F-35 was ground attack though and they didn't mix it up where the F-15 excels. The F-15E is a superb dogfighter, in it's multirole mode, but you can't hit what you can't see.
That is pretty absolute.
The best response so far!!
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