Official statement: The F-35 CAN Supercruise.

[SpudmanWP]

http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2012/November%202012/1112fighter.aspx

The F-35, while not technically a "supercruising" aircraft, can maintain Mach 1.2 for a dash of 150 miles without using fuel-gulping afterburners.

"Mach 1.2 is a good speed for you, according to the pilots," O’Bryan said.

This confirms two things.
1. LM does not consider just going over M to be supercruising.
2. It can

Moreover, the surface material smoothes out over time, slightly reducing the F-35’s original radar signature, according to the Lockheed Martin official. Only serious structural damage will disturb the F-35’s low observability, O’Bryan said, and Lockheed Martin has devised an array of field repairs that can restore full stealthiness in just a few hours.

The F-35’s radar cross section, or RCS, has a "maintenance margin," O’Bryan explained, meaning it’s "always better than the spec." Minor scratches and even dents won’t affect the F-35’s stealth qualities enough to degrade its combat performance, in the estimation of the company. Field equipment will be able to assess RCS right on the flight line, using far less cumbersome gear than has previously been needed to make such calculations.

You read that right, the F-35's RCS gets BETTER over time, not worse through normal use.

Much, much more at the jump.

[BDF]

Not terribly surprising. Now the more interesting questions are at what altitude(s) can it sustain said Mach point and how much does does it effect range? Yes they say a dash of 150nm but that really doesn't tell us much. Good to hear the program is progressing and the jet is delivering promised capability.

[SpudmanWP]

From what I have read, supercruising uses 75%-100% more gas per mile than going m0.9. So if it's 150 at M1.2 then that would be about 250-300 subsonic.

[sprstdlyscottsmn]

First time I have read that it excels n the transonic.

[sferrin]

I wonder if Bill Sweetman will tell us about this at Ares.

[count_to_10]

First time I have read that it excels n the transonic.

One of the first things I heard was that it was designed from the ground up for transonic.

[count_to_10]

Did you catch this?

"We’ve taken it to a different level," O’Bryan said. The stealth of the production F-35—verified in radar cross section tests performed on classified western test ranges—is better than that of any aircraft other than the F-22.

[sketch22]

As I've mentioned in another thread, I chatted with "Hog" from the 461st and he confirmed that yes the F-35 can indeed supercruise. It takes afterburner to get past the sound barrier but once hes supersonic he can pull the power back to mil and it'll stay there around Mach 1.2.

[count_to_10]

O’Bryan said the power of the F-35’s EW/EA systems can be inferred from the fact that the Marine Corps "is going to replace its EA-6B [a dedicated jamming aircraft] with the baseline F-35B" with no additional pods or internal systems.

Asked about the Air Force’s plans, O’Bryan answered with several rhetorical questions: "Are they investing in a big jammer fleet? Are they buying [EA-18G] Growlers?" Then he said, "There’s a capability here."

[SpudmanWP]

Did you catch this?

"We’ve taken it to a different level," O’Bryan said. The stealth of the production F-35—verified in radar cross section tests performed on classified western test ranges—is better than that of any aircraft other than the F-22.

That's been known for a while.

http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-4408.html

Nov 2005: The U.S. Air Force, in it’s effort to get money to build more F-22s, has revealed just how “stealthy” the F-22 is. It’s RCS (Radar Cross Section) is the equivalent, for a radar, to a metal marble. The less stealthy (and much cheaper) F-35, is equal to a metal golf ball. The F-35 stealthiness is a bit better than the B-2 bomber, which, in turn, was twice as good as that on the even older F-117.

[sferrin]

Nov 2005: The U.S. Air Force, in it’s effort to get money to build more F-22s, has revealed just how “stealthy” the F-22 is. It’s RCS (Radar Cross Section) is the equivalent, for a radar, to a metal marble. The less stealthy (and much cheaper) F-35, is equal to a metal golf ball. The F-35 stealthiness is a bit better than the B-2 bomber, which, in turn, was twice as good as that on the even older F-117.

Except that according to Ben Rich the F-117's RCS was the size of a marble.

[SpudmanWP]

Maybe they were being conservative. I was using it more as a gauge on how the different platforms relate to each other.

F-22 < F-35 < B-2 < F-117.

They may also be talking about either one aspect of it's RCS or overall RCS...

[sketch22]

They may also be talking about either one aspect of it's RCS or overall RCS...

Do you mean like frontal RCS vs rear RCS?

[falconedge]

As I've mentioned in another thread, I chatted with "Hog" from the 461st and he confirmed that yes the F-35 can indeed supercruise. It takes afterburner to get past the sound barrier but once hes supersonic he can pull the power back to mil and it'll stay there around Mach 1.2.

it quite hard to understand , i dont get it , if the pilot pull the power back then the force will be decrease how could the f-35 still able to remain it's speed ???
( i mean it physics )

[falconedge]

From what I have read, supercruising uses 75%-100% more gas per mile than going m0.9. So if it's 150 at M1.2 then that would be about 250-300 subsonic.

can you explain why it still consume more gas if it is supercruise
btw how much gas the afterburner mode consume compared to normal dry thrust