and with NO internal gun,,,
Posted on 08/05/2016 7:20:20 PM PDT by Mariner
The celebration of the Air Force variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter reaching initial operational capability continued Friday with a ceremony replete with dignitaries at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, where 15 F-35s were declared combat-ready this week.
The crowd in attendance included Utah Gov. Gary Herbert; Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James; Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein; the head of Air Combat Command, Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle; and other top Air Force brass.
The commander of Hill’s 388th Fighter Wing, Brad Lyons, touted the accomplishments of the F-35A variant, saying the aircraft had performed even better than hoped in recent testing.
The now-operational F-35As will be assigned to Hill’s 34th Fighter Squadron, out of the 388th Fighter Wing, and maintained with support from the 419th Fighter Wing.
Lyons noted that the F-35A had completed 88 out of 88 successful sorties at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, in June and dropped 15 out of 16 bombs on target. In the F-35 spinup program, he said, the aircraft had achieved 39 direct hits out of 40 munitions deployed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dodbuzz.com ...
And a 100 mm (or a 150mm 6inch) mortar mounted in truck outside the fence could get the F35 with a few 100.00 shells.
Remember Pearl Harbor. The enemy didn’t attack the way they were “supposed to”.
Twice the range of the 16.....yeahhhh. With half the load, no gun, and no ability to outrun any adversary that meets it. This is a national embarrassment and the worst “fighter” we have ever built.
It certainly is when you consider that it is literally the most expensive weapons system in human history.
You know its propaganda when they brag about the bomb accuracy rate. JDAMS and other PGMs are accurate independent of the platform they fall away from.
You could drop a JDAM from any plane in the inventory and get the same accuracy rate.
Saying, “It’s going to be monster” is like saying it’s “unbelievable”. He could mean it either way.
On the price question, the difference is not the great with full production costs of the 35 at $84mil (2018 and beyond) vs $80mil for the latest 16.
“It was intended to be stealthy during ‘first day of war’ then become a non-stealthy bomb truck in subsequent days and weeks of a conflict.”
Its stealth is not full stealth, its a low observable, but it is detectable. And when it has anything external its totally not stealthy, AND its helpless against anything that can see it. It could not outfly an F-16 in a visual situation. A Sukhoi would eat it alive if it ever locates it.
It’s not a fighter and assigning fighter metrics to it is folly of the ignorant.
Yes, the F-35 is detectable, it just can't be targeted by any SAM known to exist today and no known BVR AA missile.
It's invisible to high frequency targeting radars.
It's enemies will know it's in the area and not be able to do anything about it.
“Top speed and ceiling are almost identical, as are G force in turns.”
35 cannot hit mach 2 in any mode. A 16 can clean in fighter mode. A 35 has wing loading of 107 ft/lbs vs 88 in a 16. There in no way a 35 can ever turn with a 16.
The 35 is way below a 1 to 1 thrust to weight ratio until it burns away fuel. A 15, a 16, and a Sukhoi all exceed 1.1.
Just say its a stealth enhanced light attack plane. but don’t try to pass it off as a modern fighter. The claim that its a fighter all involve it not being seen. None involve it defeating anyone who knows its there.
I was at a presentation long about 1988 by the Project Administrator of the F35 program. It’s got a long history.
I’m with you Tet68. I followed the development of the YF-23 and it is very impressive lacking only thrust vectoring I’m told. I hope they are cranking them out by the hundreds in a black program unbeknownest to our Arab destroyer.
It's a deep interdiction and strike/attack aircraft and that's all it was ever intended to be.
Within VFR in daylight, it's inferior to every modern fighter in existence.
At night or in bad weather it will kill any of them. As well as from 50 miles out.
Except the F-22
“If we’re still planning for dog fights with the naked eye, everyone else in the whole world will eat our lunch. “
When have we ever allowed BVR air combat? Very exceedingly rarely. And in any case, the most expensive weapon in human history sold as a fighter bomber has less fighter capacity than an F-15 or 16.
Think Syria right now. There are Turk, Syrian, Russian, Jordanian, UAE, Iraqi, Israeli, French, and god knows who else flying there.
You are delusional if you think anyone will allow the USAF to torch off a missile beyond visual range at something where you don’t want it to be. They will have to identify first. The minute it is inside that box in daylight, it needs a fighter escort.
South China Sea? Ditto. Is it Filipino? Taiwanese? Vietnamese? Chinese?
Or maybe you mean the Baltic. Is it Russian, Ukrainian, Estonian? Pole? German? Swedish?
The bottom line, in anything except WWIII, there wont be any BVR except in very very rare cases.
True. Against a modern air force, it is intended to fly under the umbrella provided by the F22. So while it is designed to be a multitask fighter(bomber), there is still need for some specialization.
I wonder how the F35 or A-10 would do against the latest Russian MPADS?
“It’s a deep interdiction and strike/attack aircraft and that’s all it was ever intended to be. “
Except it is replacing the F-16. A 16 is used in an attack role a lot today, but a 16 can instantly be one of the most deadly fighters on earth anytime it wants.
Bears repeating over and over for those not having much of a clue on modern warfare. You'd think the first night of hitting Baghdad would jostle some memories.
“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
and with NO internal gun,,,
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