[PreciousLiberty]

“Last line of this excerpt tells a lot.”

Interesting article. I find it hard to believe the Sukhois could have done well without working radar guided missiles. Was the F-35 stealth modeled to work, or fail? Or, did the scenarios used involve poor stealth aspects (angles) of the F-35?

Inquiring minds want to know, but I doubt we ever will as the details are doubtless classified.

[paddles]

It’s enough to know that there are people in and out of uniform who would happily cook the books to keep the F-22 line open.

[DesScorp]

"Interesting article. I find it hard to believe the Sukhois could have done well without working radar guided missiles. Was the F-35 stealth modeled to work, or fail? Or, did the scenarios used involve poor stealth aspects (angles) of the F-35?"

Stealth as a military advantage is dead... the Air Force is just the last people to admit it. We've now known for years that low frequency radar can beat our stealth measures... like special coatings and angled surfaces. All things being equal, a joint strike fighter would be toast against the newer Su-27 derivatives. The Navy was going to rely on helmet-mounted tracking systems to give their Super Hornets an advantage against Sukhois, but now the Russians are getting them too.

In bang for the buck terms, the horrible truth right now is that the latest Sukhois may be the best fighters in the world.