Forum: F-35 Lightning II

As we near the production of the F-35 I can't stop thinking about it. It's an awesome jet and I hope that it exceeds our expectations of what it can do. but I keep hearing people saying "it's not good" or "it's not worth it" and "this is going to fail big time" so let us know what you think of how the jet will do.

Also, do you think the F-35 would beat modern-day jets in a dogfight?

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Technically, it will do fine as long as it performs as advertised, but whether it'll do fine for 30 years is still a guess.

For ground attack, its pretty much good for everything... best sensors, loadout (stealthy configuration or heavy external load configuration, nothing else can do both), excellent presentation of SA data, simple (comparitively) to fly thus making strategic decisions more effective, decent range and is spotted from a much shorter range than legacy aircraft.

In 1v1 A2A against all 4th gen fighters, including the Su-35, it has far more advantages over the adversary than it has disadvantages (those disavantages are typically focused on by the numerous F-35 haters and blown out of proportion).

Where it would really tip the scales is with many vs many from beyond visual range. By cooperating with other F-35's, it should be able to get well within missile shot range of enemy fighters unseen, fire and turn away. The enemy fighters would have little recourse (they'd use up all their fuel trying to give chase if the F-35's shots missed).

Nice, thanks for letting me know what you know Very Happy

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

F-35 a good fighter?