"The F-35 has many advantages against all fourth-generation fighters. But if he were to face them in a dogfight, in a fight that requires tight maneuvers, he might not make it because he wasn't designed for close combat. " Signed Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of the Air Combat Command.
Has the truth about the F-35 been finally said, or are the Air Force and Lockheed Martin significantly lowering the shooting on the real capabilities of the JSF, presenting it with a less aggressive and more defensive tone?
Or perhaps, we add, has the key concept of the JSF program (beyond marketing) been reiterated once again?
The F-35 is a tactical fighter, designed to excel in contexts that emphasize the Beyond Visual Range (BVR), in information-intensive environments connected to the network. Carlisle added during the Air Force Association's 2015 Air and Space Conference. "The F-35 will be able to penetrate enemy space with impunity and this is a significant advantage that other aircraft do not have, but it was not designed to be manoeuvrable, it was not designed to be. It is an incredibly complete and powerful multi-role aircraft with unique capabilities in electronic warfare. "
Carlisle, who confirmed that the biggest mistake in the history of the Pentagon was to close the F-22 line prematurely, he noted (but we always knew and wrote it) that the F-35 carries a load of lower weapons than the Raptor, but it has the possibility of adding external pylons (at the expense of the low observability profile).
A common mistake is to evaluate the F-35 (we always talk about what will fly for the USA) as a single platform. The American F-35, on the other hand, was designed to close the circle that started with the Raptor. The JSF, in fact, should be seen in a large system consisting of F-22, B-2 (and future bombers), the Zumwalt classes and numerous other combat platforms.
"Once the Block-4 software is obtained, the F-35 will have the capability to Close Air Support with a new generation electro-optical targeting system. And it is also useless to think about the comparison with the A-10: they are different machines ”.
The A-10 (we have written dozens of insights in this regard) is a heavily armored monstrous machine, designed to collect explosive shots from 23mm and hit the GAU-8 Avenger, the most powerful airborne tactical weapon on the planet with its cannon . The F-35 could be knocked out by a barrage of enemy infantry. And it is a factual statement. The armor for the F-35 has never even been designed.
"We need to think of a new kind of approach. By penetrating an airspace with impunity, it could use its electronic warfare capabilities to eliminate the enemy's land-air capabilities. "
The comparison between the two platforms, as we have reiterated in recent years, is impossible because they are conceptually different. Certainly, the A-10 will fly at least until the 2020. The Air Force confirmed the order of 1763 F-35. Despite the expectations (80 aircraft per year), due to the cuts in the Defense, the Pentagon hopes to be able to produce at least 60 starting from the 2020.
A final reasoning is a must. The Lightning II will replace almost the 90 percent of the American tactical aircraft fleet at a time when China and Russia are developing pure dogfighters instead. The Pentagon considers close combat between fighters now outdated (unlike Russians and Chinese). This means that American strategists consider such a comparison impossible. But if it happened, even just once, what would happen?
Is it really so unlikely that an F-35, from the 2020 to the 2060 / 70, can find itself fighting a single dogfight?
At the moment history gives reason to Russian and Chinese philosophy.
(photo: Lockheed Martin)
