Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Apparently the F-35 is no where near the latest Sukhoi jets including the Su-30 and Su-35 when it comes to A2G capabilities. As far as I see this makes the JSF already somewhat incapable to be the country's replacement for air superiority fighters and make it's main use A2G. Does this mean America will now be behind Russia and have to start struggling to catch up to them in air to air combat? Monetarily will this even be possible?

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think you got your facts mixed up my friend

bossovich wrote:

Apparently the F35 is no where near the latest Sukhoi jets including the Su-30 and Su-35 when it comes to A2G capabilities. As far as I see this makes the JSF already somewhat incapable to be the country's replacement for air superiority fighters and make it's main use A2G. Does this mean America will now be behind russia and have to start struggling to catch up to them in air to air combat? Monetarily will this even be possible?

Well, before you get piled upon... its really the other way around. The Su-30 and 35 don't hold much chance against an F-35. It has inferior sensors, stealth, comms, ECM and likely transonic performance (the flight regime most A2A actually occurs.) The Sukhoi has significantly poorer air to ground... the weapons it could carry are markedly inferior to western systems like the JDAM, JSOW, AGM-130 ect.

The Russians are actually significantly behind the United States in fighter technology... simply by virtue of an economic collapse and the paucity of funding given to aircraft development. By comparison the US has developed and in the process of fielding not one, but two 5th Gen fighters, as well as a series of new generation stealthy UCAVs (X-47B).

bossovich wrote:

Apparently the F35 is no where near the latest Sukhoi jets including the Su-30 and Su-35 when it comes to A2G capabilities. As far as I see this makes the JSF already somewhat incapable to be the country's replacement for air superiority fighters and make it's main use A2G. Does this mean America will now be behind russia and have to start struggling to catch up to them in air to air combat? Monetarily will this even be possible?

Dude. April 1st is April Fools Day. Good one, though.

bossovich wrote:

Apparently the F-35 is no where near the latest Sukhoi jets including the Su-30 and Su-35 when it comes to A2G capabilities. As far as I see this makes the JSF already somewhat incapable to be the country's replacement for air superiority fighters and make it's main use A2G. Does this mean America will now be behind Russia and have to start struggling to catch up to them in air to air combat? Monetarily will this even be possible?

Just so you know:

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2008/11/usaf-pilot-describes-iaf-su30m.html

The F-35 carries just as much, or even more (18,000 lbs) than either, has 2x5000lb hardpoints (hello bunker busters), has a better RwR, stealthier radar, 360 EOTS, spherical EODAS, etc, etc.....

bossovich wrote:

Apparently the F-35 is no where near the latest Sukhoi jets including the Su-30 and Su-35 when it comes to A2G capabilities. As far as I see this makes the JSF already somewhat incapable to be the country's replacement for air superiority fighters and make it's main use A2G. Does this mean America will now be behind Russia and have to start struggling to catch up to them in air to air combat? Monetarily will this even be possible?

Read APA much?

SpudmanWP wrote:

The F-35 carries just as much, or even more (18,000 lbs) than either, has 2x5000lb hardpoints (hello bunker busters), has a better RwR, stealthier radar, 360 EOTS, spherical EODAS, etc, etc.....

But Bomber Doors!

i also thought that the f-35 was completely superior until i read what was on this page: http://www.f-16.net/news_article4416.html and now im a bit confused

bossovich wrote:

i also thought that the f-35 was completely superior until i read what was on this page: http://www.f-16.net/news_article4416.html and now im a bit confused

The Author, Eric Palmer, is a long-time critic of the F-35 program and associates with Air Power Australia, a wild-eyed think tank which goes to absurd lengths to try and discredit the program. However, he's doesn't go as far as them- usually.

The fact that the source is anonymous does not speak well to the credibility of the article.

thanks that explains a lot, when i was reading what he wrote i was quite baffled

bossovich, your mind is easily changeable then if this is all it took: "... An unnamed source stated that earlier this year a presentation was given by an industry air combat threat assessment expert [unnamed] to defense officials of a NATO country [also unnamed]..." AND "...Part of the presentation showed a computer simulation..."

With my computer here I'm simulating a lot of things. No?

My Me109 defeated the F-35 in Microsoft Combat Simulator, that means the F-35 is obviously inferior in every aspect and must be replaced by a more capable fleet of P-51s to counter-act this new threat. Rolling Eyes

svenphantom wrote:

My Me109 defeated the F-35 in Microsoft Combat Simulator, that means the F-35 is obviously inferior in every aspect and must be replaced by a more capable fleet of P-51s to counter-act this new threat. Rolling Eyes

Can we really afford that?

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

F-35 vs Su-30/35