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Pentagon Worries That Russia Can Now Outshoot U.S. Stealth Jets
The Daily Beast ^ | 12/04/2014 | Dave Majumdar

Posted on 12/04/2014 3:20:25 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki

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To: sukhoi-30mki
I love these stories for their sobering effect.

We like running with the same attitude and logic that once told US that our fighters don't need a gun any more.

Better to sober up now than on that first day when assumptions and training meet reality.

21 posted on 12/04/2014 6:34:25 AM PST by GBA (Here in the matrix, life is but a dream...with consequences.)
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To: Travis McGee

They are still a few years from production of the systems needed to see and shoot stealth but the days are numbered for stealth.

We have been able to see stealth since at least 1985 that I know of. The Russians picked up on it about 1988 but with the demise of the USSR they stepped back from development until they got back on their financial feet about 8 years ago. They have moved forward with anti-stealth technology and are on the verge of releasing multiple systems, air, sea, and land, that can see and shoot stealth.

Stealth is good stuff and should be used to defeat manpads and other non-sophisticated missiles, but it cannot defeat sophisticated imaging systems. It does reduce typical CW radar signatures and is useful for penetrating Russian airspace for bomb delivery, but gravity bombs are rather stupid when we have ICBM/SLBM delivery capabilities that cost less per warhead and are nearly 100% effective. Those warheads also employ stealth and other countermeasures like decoys and chaff, which makes them far better than aircraft at delivering nuclear warheads.


22 posted on 12/04/2014 7:47:41 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: Bobalu

“We have lots of both”

So do they and many of theirs are over here learning better manufacturing techniques. I have been shocked at how many Russians have had access to what I would consider national secrets.


23 posted on 12/04/2014 7:48:52 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

“Pretty much every program now is decided by its clout in Congress and the number of jobs it creates...resulting in an over-expensive and inefficient industry.”

Which is why any smaller budgeted country can compete with us. We don’t make good use of what we spend.


24 posted on 12/04/2014 7:52:01 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: CodeToad

Its about the will—if the left talks the youth into thinking America is evil and should be punished for Slavery, Global Warming, and starvation, who will fight? Rome lost because the Romans didn’t believe in the ideals of Rome anymore. Same could happen to the west.


25 posted on 12/04/2014 7:55:22 AM PST by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll Onward! Ride to the sound of the guns!)
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To: 11th Commandment
I recall rotating frequency was an effective tool when the Enterprise was fighting the Borg!

Wait, that already happened?

26 posted on 12/04/2014 7:56:27 AM PST by McGruff (If you like your current Democracy you can keep it. Period.)
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To: The Antiyuppie

BP remains alive in various forms, but why go into the intake of an aircraft when a projectile merely smokes right through it and obliterates the target? It has enough force to push a tank right into a hole in the sand. An aircraft turns into confetti with such a projectile.

Space-based kinetic weapons are mind blowing.


27 posted on 12/04/2014 7:58:42 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: Forward the Light Brigade

“Its about the will”

You bet. Turning every little kid into a liberal onesie wearing pacifist is their goal. Can’t dominate strong minds.


28 posted on 12/04/2014 7:59:43 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: puppypusher

“The U.S. Military and our Aerospace industry have known about stealth technology “

Truth be told, the Russians wrote the book, literally in 1964, that we used to create our first stealth projects. Our aircraft designers thought the calculations the Russians provided were way off, but it turned out they were dead on.

Politics kept the Soviets from using their own math to produce stealth aircraft. Once they discovered we were producing stealth it took them a few years to understand we were using their book, which they then used to predict our stealth outcomes.


29 posted on 12/04/2014 8:05:07 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: rbg81
We spend a lot more $$, but a lot of that is personnel costs. Defense is clearly not a priority for this administration.

By the time Obama is finished, our fighters will be shooting bean bags.

30 posted on 12/04/2014 8:18:08 AM PST by Know et al (Keep on Freepin'!!!)
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To: CincyRichieRich

The leakers are leaking to tell the others that we know they know we have discovered the problem? Maybe there is an answer already and it is counter-ignorance?


31 posted on 12/04/2014 8:53:05 AM PST by huldah1776
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To: huldah1776; CincyRichieRich

Plus some national defense worries have to be released to the public to win political support in the battle for defense dollars.


32 posted on 12/04/2014 9:14:15 AM PST by ansel12
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To: CodeToad

~Stealth is good stuff and should be used to defeat manpads and other non-sophisticated missiles~

Last time I’ve check manpad missiles aren’t radar-guided. F-35 is actually a better targets for most manpads than helicopter, and we all know manpads are pretty much effective against helicopters.


33 posted on 12/04/2014 10:41:19 AM PST by wetphoenix
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To: wetphoenix

Stealth isn’t just about radar.


34 posted on 12/05/2014 6:37:22 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: CodeToad

Do you have any background in aa-warfare?


35 posted on 12/05/2014 8:05:06 AM PST by wetphoenix
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To: wetphoenix

“Do you have any background in aa-warfare?”

Why do you want to know?


36 posted on 12/05/2014 8:06:41 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: CodeToad

Just curious. Inexpensive airspace denial to opposing air forces is actually an integral part of future hybrid warfare. I want to learn your opinion and that is all.


37 posted on 12/05/2014 8:30:36 AM PST by wetphoenix
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To: wetphoenix

“airspace denial to opposing air forces is actually an integral part of future hybrid warfare.”

“hybrid”? It has always been a part of warfare since airplanes were invented and used in warfare.


38 posted on 12/05/2014 8:46:46 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: CodeToad

You missed my point. Potent aa weapons are out of control now and pretty much available to non-government players these days.


39 posted on 12/05/2014 4:09:22 PM PST by wetphoenix
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To: saintgermaine

Why plural?


40 posted on 12/05/2014 4:21:58 PM PST by krunkygirl (force multiplier in effect...)
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