” ... it is true that the F-35 is not the best dog fighter compared to F-22, F-18, F-15, F-16, etc...”
I don’t believe the F-22 is a dog fighter, either. It’s billed as an “air superiority” craft. With it’s stealth and long-range, air-to-air missile capability, the advantage of the F-22 is that it can stand off and take out enemy aircraft before it is “seen.”
F-22s have vectored thrust and guns. They dogfight just fine.
It is just that, properly handled, and not hampered by stupid rules of engagement, they don’t have to.
You are absolutely correct. And the F-35 shares the same advantage. Stealth will be most important factor in which side will win the air battles of the coming war. Whomever possess the best stealth can fly around with impunity picking off the enemy before the enemy even knows they’re targeted, or that enemy stealth aircraft are in the area. But, the F-22 is a very good dogfighter if it needs to be due to the variable thrust engines, it can do maneuvers that very few, if any other aircraft can perform. You are correct though, the accuracy and reliability of modern A2A missiles will make twisty turning close in dogfighting a thing of the past, it will happen but very rarely.
The problem comes when an administration orders positive visual ID of the target before firing.
It can also dogfight. Is very good at it.
I had an acquaintance who flew every fighter plane in the US inventory since the early Seventies, from the A-4 all the way up to the F-15. He started out as a Marine pilot flying the A-4, eventually went the Air Force and spent most of his time in the F-16.
In talking to him, I asked him if he had ever flown the F-22. He said that he had not, but that he had flown against it in exercises. When I asked him how the F-16 had fared against the F-22, he said:
“It was like being a baby seal.”