Well since someone has left me doing
Post #500 I might as well do it, with all my
THANKS for making that possible!!
First is a follow-up too the many posts I've done over the years that guarantees the A-10 will still be flying through and just beyond the "
20's". The last jet has been "
re-winged" with
173 A-10C jets fully operational. The wings were taking a beating due to the combination of
age and
OPTEMPO. Besides the obvious flight advantages, it's ability to maneuver with a full payload has been restored w/o restrictions.
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...program-03187/
What I LOVE ABOUT "
DID", is that they continually update their stories and provide those refs within, end of a section etc. or at the end of the article or both. This next is so long it's everywhere in the article.
The "tagline" is in the fact the
F-35 will be going to Europe to get some "exercise" in some upcoming
NATO Exercises. This all well and good however, what caught my eye was within the following section of the Ref., "
The F-35 Family: Controversies and Competitions" all I'll say is I feel vindicated after pointing out many of these issues over the years with the AUSA Think Tank article I posted I can't even remember how many years ago and since.
A year or two ago I posted from various sources what capabilities define a
5th GEN Fighter and I stated even before that the
F-35 after one of it's last final redesigns, was not one. The
F-35 is no better then on par with the
F-15SE, except that the last is still with the recent upgrades done system wide in recent years a much better air superiority fighter then the
F-35.
For prospective the
GRIPEN NG meets the requirements more closely to being a
5th GEN Fighter/Bomber (I acknowledge it carries a
smaller payload, however, the point is a Fighter/Bomber is designed to
fight its way in, drop the ordnance and fight it's way home again, if necessary.)
I believe there were five points that determined what made a jet a
5th GEN capable aircraft. And their are only two known aircraft that meet
ALL five and they are the
F-22 and
B-2 Bomber.
The
F-35 misses the mark with at least two major ones as taken from the Ref. and section noted above.
"The F-35’s design is optimized for “
low-observable” stealth when viewed from the front, with
less stealth to radars looking at it from the sides, and
less still when targeted from the rear. It also lacks the Raptor’s
supercruise (sustained flight above Mach 1) and
super-maneuverability thrust-vectoring options, which work with stealth to help the F-22 engage and disengage from combat at will. Lockheed Martin claims that the F-35 design is optimized for trans-sonic acceleration, but testing results question those claims, and the Raptor can cruise without afterburners at the F-35’s theoretical maximum speed. That’s important, because fuel usage skyrockets with afterburners on, limiting total supersonic time for fighters like the F-35.
The
GRIPEN NG does have "
supercruise" and the "
super-maneuverability thrust-vectoring options" but these factors help determine and for aircraft in the game, the all important
EW Level. The
GRIPEN NG and possibility 1 Russian jet and some say the
F-15SE (Though I'm more cautious about that.) are the only
4th GEN++{+} planes in the air.
Needless to say I'll be taking a hard look at the
F-35 in
EW category.
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...m-edit-037947/
https://www.ausairpower.net/research.html
https://www.ausairpower.net/raptor.html
https://www.ausairpower.net/jsf.html
It's a standard I try to live up as much as possible per Ref. 2. I still make mistakes, I just do the best I can and maintain my standards, so to the rest, "
Read'em and Weep".
Regards,
Pat
Re: Jets & Planes but no UAV's here.
Threaded Mode