Posted on 10/08/2016 10:32:20 AM PDT by Mariner
As tensions between Washington and Moscow flare, the Russian military is warning the United States that it has the ability to target stealth aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit that might be operating over Syria with the Almaz-Antey S-400 (NATO: SA-21 Growler) and the recently arrived S-300V4 (NATO: SA-23 Gladiator) air and missile defense systems. However, Western defense officials and analysts are skeptical and note that both the F-22 and the F-35 were specifically designed to counter those Russian-developed weapons.
"Russian S-300, S-400 air defense systems deployed in Syria's Hmeymim and Tartus have combat ranges that may surprise any unidentified airborne targets,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told the Russian state media outlet Sputnik. “Operators of Russian air defense systems won't have time to identify the origin of airstrikes, and the response will be immediate. Any illusions about ‘invisible’ jets will inevitably be crushed by disappointing reality.”
However, while Moscow makes bold claims about the counter-stealth capabilities of their S-400 and S-300V4 air defense systems, the fact remains that even if Russian low-frequency search and acquisitions radars can detect and track tactical fighter-sized stealth aircraft such as the F-22 or F-35, fire control radars operating in C, X and Ku bands cannot paint low observable (LO) jets except at very close ranges. Stealth is not—and never has been—invisibility, but it does offer greatly delayed detection so that a fighter or bomber and can engage a target and leave before the enemy has time to react.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
Any given day they could get lucky and the U.S warplane could be unlucky.
Of course. World War I was very profitable for the international bankers.
Thanks for sharing your ignorance with us. Incirlik Air Base to Aleppo is about 130 miles - 260 round trip. Combat Radius of the 35-A is 625 nautical miles.
You should probably rely on things other than the Boeing talking points. The bigger question, which you missed, is whether the 35 is combat ready. And the answer to that is 'probably not'.
Red Flag says it is.
The leadership of the United States are both corrupt and stupid. They seem anxious to get something going before it is possible to block it. Do the math...
Of course, they could.
The question should be would they?
If only Vlad would chill out a few more weeks. But our Terrorist in Chief the one who’s really pushing it. Anything to stay in office, to declare martial law to get Hellary into office but mainly to destroy the US.
“I’m pretty sure Russia and China are working on both”
I’m pretty sure they have hacked, or bought information on how to defeat our Stealth Aircraft.
Thanks for the ad hominum. However, that also puts the F35 within S 400 range as well as various Russian SU 35, 30SM, 27SM3 once it crosses the border - not to mention the superior Russian BVR missiles they pack. Kiss your putative F-35s good bye.
I know about F35 combat readiness - just doin’t want to pile on for you F35 fans. And the answer is “definitely not.”
The U-2 spy plane was thought to fly above range of Russian missiles as well.
Any plane doing ground attack - including your beloved Boeings - is going to be within range of the Russian anti-aircraft. B-1 (Claimed by Boeing, but not built by them) flying at maximum altitude probably has the best shot at surviving a bombing run.
Beloved Boeings? Hate the place. You take it.
Starting a fight with the Russians over Syria would be insane.
One of the Aviation-Leak type websites has caught a couple of F-117A's reactivated via a zoom lens at Tonapah.
One looks like it has a hump back or some fuselage mod, but it could be heat distortion from the long distance in the photo....
So why are they active now with all this "talk".....
Not all Nighthawks were deactivated and many newer ones were put in a storage mode that is easily reversed. Putting them into the battle sphere today would be suicide for the pilots.
Stealth does NOT confer invisibility. Even if it did, it would not confer invisibility to optical or infra red trackers.
Stealth never was intended to confer the sort of capability to ignore enemy radar in any mission profile.
Of course they could.
And, BTW, the "National Interest" is interested in a number of nations, it's not clear that the USA makes the cut.
Or were the coatings upgraded? I remember reading they were e beeotch to maintain, new system available that is better... I don’t disagree it is now an old school sled at this point, but is their a mission for it is the question...
Furthermore, you would not prosecute even a limited air war in Syria without taking out the Russian radar sites. S300/s400 are highly mobile. Even if you thought you had taken them out, you would run the risk of one “popping up” unexpectedly and scoring kills of our aircraft.
Thanks for the reminder. I am a fan of the F117 and remember reading it is not immune or perfect.
The F117 was an aircraft designed with the analytical tools available at the time, hence the “faceted” look.
There are three characteristics of steal the in decreasing importance: size (bigger is bigger), shape (plan form alignment, apertures, corner reflectors), and treatments (coatings, materials, blade seals for doors, etc)
Every stealth platform implements these basic elements. We couldn’t easily calculate the radar cross section of curved surfaces when the F117 was designed, but we could calculate easily the RCS of flat surfaces. That us why the F117 looks as it does. The flat surfaces “face” the same (limited) directions so you control the signature reflections. If a radar you don’t know about is in an unfavorable place, you are toast.
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