New Heritage Foundation Report

[marsavian]

Let's put this in some perspective, none of the legacy fighters carry AIM-9X internally either and the sidewinder pylons on the F-35 are tiny and slanted and will not carry a big RCS penalty. F-35 RCS will still be less than other fighters in that configuration so for air to air it's fine but you wouldn't want to try and take down SAMs in that configuration as you would affect all aspect RCS to some degree.

[madrat]

AIiM-9x and ASRAAM both act seamlessly as additional detectors, just like MICA although the latter has better mid range IR.

[SpudmanWP]

How Actual F-35A Pilots Assess the Aircraft

[spazsinbad]

Must admit I've not got around to reading the report but will do so soon. Was surprised by the HMDS issues (they seem to be solvable with fixes I'll imagine). The LVC issues are just sad indeed with the simulators NOT being up to speed (given statements earlier that they would keep pace) it seems NOT everything (threat libraries) is updated. What set me back was the table of pilot flying hours for USAF aircraft. I understand what it means to be preoccupied with basic things when not enough flying hours per week, to be able to concentrate on the mission, but held back by lack of flying time. Flying time is really important when the FMS is not up to the task (I'll guess that weather and malfunctions can be programmed in over time to make sim time more realistic perhaps). Then there must be more F-35 parts - parts, parts & more parts.

[blain]

I am really curious about the usefulness of the AIM-9X in a jet with much better SA and low observability in light of the AIM-9X miss of the SU-22 in Syria. Once the F-15Cs started to carry AMRAAMs they reduced the AIM-9s they carried.

[spazsinbad]

One cannot characterise the AIM-9 against Su-22 use as a 'miss'. The missile malfunctioned. This happens. End of story.

Recently two videos (one long - one short) of the USN pilots involved explains what happened - also NO FLARES from Su.

SHORT: Su-22 Shoot Down 4 USN Pilots Explain TAILHOOK 2017 Excerpt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAbxl_jxquo

LONG: Su-22 Shoot Down 4 USN Pilots Explain ALL at TAILHOOK 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uston4gybSk

[optimist]

Must admit I've not got around to reading the report but will do so soon. Was surprised by the HMDS issues (they seem to be solvable with fixes I'll imagine). The LVC issues are just sad indeed with the simulators NOT being up to speed (given statements earlier that they would keep pace) it seems NOT everything (threat libraries) is updated. What set me back was the table of pilot flying hours for USAF aircraft. I understand what it means to be preoccupied with basic things when not enough flying hours per week, to be able to concentrate on the mission, but held back by lack of flying time. Flying time is really important when the FMS is not up to the task (I'll guess that weather and malfunctions can be programmed in over time to make sim time more realistic perhaps). Then there must be more F-35 parts - parts, parts & more parts.

some of those interviews were from 2016, things have changed. This is the report.
https://www.heritage.org/defense/report ... -the-world

[botsing]

Interesting report.

The most thought provoking part of the video is when he talks about John Jumper thinking about replacing the A-10 with the F-35B, but not for the missions itself, but to preserve those pilot's insight into those missions.

[eloise]

The AN/APG-70, -63(v)3, -82 (v)1 all have LPI capability. The first part of your post, difference in size and power of the AN/APG-82(v)1 , makes the most sense for the higher rating.

What version of F-15C is this, i thought F-15C and F-15E both have the same AESA radar
Why F-15C < F-35 < F-15E

159EC555-B511-4AC5-AAFE-A520E2D2F566.png (303.62 KiB) Viewed 15618 times

[SpudmanWP]

The F-15C/E do not share the same radar.

The F-15C has the APG-63(v)2/3

The F-15E has the APG-63(v)4 that was renamed to APG-82(v)1

I feel placing the APG-81 between the two is mistaken for 4 main reasons:
1. Much of the tech in the Raytheon (APG-63/892 series) is based on older generations with just updates carried forward.
2. The F-35's APG-81 has long been credited with having "~1200" T&R modules.
3. The APG-81's T&R module tech is newer than the APG-63/82.
4. The computer backend that analyzes the radar data and determines what is & is not a track is much better on the F-35.

[gc]

Their grading is subjective and I don’t think we can interpret the scoring across the different fighter platforms comparison. It is possible that a Mudhen driver will grade the APG-63(v)3 4 while another Eagle driver grades it 3. All we can tell is Mudhen drivers like the APG-82 more than the APG-81 but we cant tell if the APG-82 is really superior to the APG-63(v)3.

[SpudmanWP]

It is also more difficult to determine the "performance" of the APG-81 from inside the cockpit.

The unified display shows the whole picture, regardless of the sensor or datalink that provided the track. The pilot has to spend some time drilling down thru menus to find out what provided the data & if it was just one sensor.

we cant tell if the APG-82 is really superior to the APG-63(v)3

We can since we know that the APG-82 is nothing but an APG-63(v)3 with some improvements, hence the original name of APG-63(v)4. The -82 is the front end of a -63(v)3 with the backend of a -79 (From Superhornet). Basically, it's a -79 with a larger dish.

As we can see from the attached pic, the -63(v)3 was still using a lot of the modules from the -63(v)1 days.

APG-63(V)3[1].jpg (36.63 KiB) Viewed 15452 times

[gc]

I suppose the apg-82 possess air to surface modes that is not a focus of the apg-63(v)3. The apg-82 by sheer size is the most powerful fighter radar in western bloc fighters. But it doesn’t really negate the disadvantage of the Eagle’s huge RCS in combat so i would take the smaller apg-81 equipped F-35 anytime. But in isolation, which is what the survey question was, the strike eagles has a superior radar.