
hythelday wrote:landis wrote:marsavian wrote:F-35 with B-61 will increase deterrence not decrease it as it is a stealthy delivery platform. If fact with the way the warhead can be dialled down it is the ultimate tactical weapon too. S-400 is not an issue, they can be jammed or taken out before warhead delivery if they are not avoided. 1750 F-35A with B-61 is an awesome surprise first strike package too. F-35 will enhance an old weapon which previously needed a benign permissive environment in which to operate. F-35 + B-61 is the ultimate expression of this aircraft's lethality and the Russians know it.
All good points, but the S-400 as part of an integrated air defense and denial system can make even the F-35 stealth problematic. Yes the S-400 one on one can be defeated, but that defense system involves many other assets including S-400s and many others, that compromise the certainty of stealth. Remember, stealth does NOT make an aircraft invisible, just more difficult to track, at closer range. If you have many of these assets spread all over and integrated then Stealth isn't the slam dunk it was over Iraq in 2003. And we have put all our eggs in the stealth basket. A breakthrough in detection of stealth would be disastrous for the US.
As a tactical nuclear delivery system, the Iskander is probably superior. Mach 6, easy to hide, not tied to a runway/base, along with decoys and jammers associated in the warhead to defeat anti-missile defenses.
RF VLO is not the only asset of F-35, by far.
Again, what is it that you are trying to say, apart from praising Russian missile syatems?
The B-61-12 is a modernized gravity bomb from the 1960s... It has no standoff compared to Russian weapons like their new hypersonic weapons like kinzhal that they even claim are nuclear armed, stand off range and mach 10.
Stealth doesn't even matter with that delivery method.
And for some reason we don't want to admit to any nuclear role for our hypersonic weapons we are lagging behind on developing. Our tactical nuclear weapons consist of the B-61. A gravity bomb. Do we have something against tactical nuclear weapons with some standoff range? Why do we insist on requiring our tactical nuclear deterrent to have to drive into the range of the air defenses instead of launching outside them?
The Russians have a dozen different tactical and naval weapons, and they have new ones with more modern concepts. And you have to assume that any target worth nuking will be defended by a dedicated and capable integrated air defence system. And we still want to fly over the target and deliver a gravity bomb??? With everything in that operation totally dependent on stealth? No, I don't get it. I don't mean to praise the Russians, but it does seem their strategy is more modern and sound given the realities of the battlefield.