Posted on 11/07/2019 7:50:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Key point: Russian aircraft are closing the gap with the West, making the need for investments in next-generation fighters more important than ever.
Russia’s Su-35 fighter certainly has western defense outlets buzzing--and for good reason.
Moscow, despite heavy sanctions and an economy that has certainly seen better days, keeps pumping out new combat systems one after another--items like new tanks, submarines, nuclear weapons platforms and more.
While many were indeed designed and planned for ahead of the imposition of sanctions, Russia is clearly making a big effort to modernize its armed forces, especially its air force, and moving past older Soviet platforms. The Su-35 is a good example of such efforts.
So how would the Su-35 do against America’s best planes? How would it fare against an American air force that is clearly the best in the world. How would, for example, the Su-35 do in a combat situation against Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter? How would Russia’s new plane do against older aircraft like the F-15 or say F-16?
Such scenarios matter--and not just in the context of a possible NATO/Russia or Middle East situation, but now that Russia is set to deliver the Su-35 to China, such comparisons matter even more. There are many places where all of these lethal aircraft will overlap, making such comparisons even more timely.
Compiled below are three articles, written several years ago, that looks at these questions in depth, combined in one posting for your reading pleasure. With that said, let the debate begin.
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While the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is slated to become the mainstay of the Pentagon’s tactical fighter fleet, not everyone nation on Earth can afford to fly an expensive fifth-generation fighter.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
Military section in NI is rubbish.
This article is nonsense. I think the F-15 can still be dominate against the best Russia and Chinese jets.
The article says that almost exactly about the F-15.
Simple answer. No.
Even if the Russians develop a Gen5 fighter they do not have the resources to build enough of them to survive US air superiority for long enough to make a difference in a conflict (that is, if the US remains committed to the conflict).
Now the Chinese may be different story. They have far greater resources and most of their tech has been provided by us at the approval of previous presidents, starting with BJ Clinton.
Just my $.02.
Isn’t the next air ace going to be Droney VonDronofen?
If they build them, they sell them.
The real question is can the F-35 -bomber- operate in an S-400 environment in a general war.
If this administration does not sell our secrets we can move ahead of the competition.
If I was a Tesla fan, I would just brag about the SU53’s 0-600 time.
It would prove I know nothing about Aircraft.
Not if it’s deprived of AWACS support. And it’s not going up against the jets - it’s going up against the missiles.
That may come down to if the S-400 is properly maintained, and I seriously doubt they will be properly maintained.
Well, the F-35 has some questions about its operational capability even outside of hostile peer or near peer airspace...
High - Low mix is the stated Pentagon objective.
There are F-15s that will fly into the 2030s.
The difference between US forces and those of China/Russia is that we will fly a much greater number of real stealth aircraft, and the high/low mix will be FULLY networked and networked with ships, AWACS and multiple other sensor platforms.
Within a decade we will field armed stealth drones which will also be part of the extended network.
A true point and shoot 360deg view of the battle space.
All the pilot has to do is look at the target and depress their thumb, without regard to which platform releases the missile.
Ping.
Again - what happens when the AWACS gets taken out and our pilots have to search for targets themselves?
Remember, the paradigm for today’s warfare environment in a peer or near-peer conflict is, “You radiate, you die.”
This is the Air Force itself admitting the problems.
I'm ex Navy and don't want to say anything nice about the Air Force. Still they aren't half bad at their job.
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