The last part of the flight will be a steep dive though, so I suspect the airspeed would still be pretty good(certainly not in the 200mph range). It’s not gonna be like shooting a UAV or helicopter. A TLAM would be a closer analogy in terms of difficulty.

It would be irrelevant if the F-16 lit up at M1.6, as it would be unarmed, and secondly, were the F-35 unarmed, there’d likely only be a M.2 difference in speed.

That’s still pretty optimistic when you look at historic examples- F-22 first flight 1997 and IOC in 2005, or F-35 first flight in 2006 and IOC in ~2015(and that includes double digit #s of test aircraft, CatBird, etc…). Unless they got every single thing right the first time, I would be surprised to see IOC in 2015, when there isn’t even a production representative model flying yet. Heck, the Su-35 isn’t even at IOC yet, and that’s a far less ambitious aircraft.

The sign on that pic says “Active Phased Array – L band”.

Some basic info on the sign below

There’s some speculation that it has a secondary role as a data link jammer.

That sign isn’t for the array to the left, but the one on the table behind it, which goes in the leading edge of the wings. You can see that in the pic, as well as see the text referring to such a system. The main array is X band.

How effective are these sytems in a heavy ECM environment, and with bombs coming from different angles/azimuths?

I think the M.3 speed estimate is VERY conservative, especially if the SDB is launched supersonically. There’s no way it could achieve the ranges it does, if it bled airspeed like that. My guess is that it’d be flying at 2-3x that speed, and coming in at a very steep angle.

LM/USAF have said that it could reach M1.6 with a combat load, and…fire its missiles at that speed. They have also said that it can fly 1200mph, which actually works out to ~ M1.8.

I think the more accurate statement is that you didn’t get the answers that you wanted to hear.

Each F-35 can carry 8 SDBs, and while they are a bomb with wings in a sense, it still represents 8 targets/F-35 that must be shot down(and no system has a 100% PK). At some point the SAM sites are going to have to reload/relocate, so unless they can keep up with the volume of incoming fire, they’re going to eventually lose that battle.

So can any other platform, with equivalent systems, you mean,

The non-stealthy aircraft would be far more dependent on escort jammers, etc… and have to stay hundreds of KM away to avoid the WEZ of S300/400, which means they’d have to use cruise missiles of some sort, which only work, if the SAM site hasn’t relocated.
SDBs can hit moving targets too, when the SAMs are more vulnerable.

As for countering stealthiness, I don’t see a technology coming anytime soon, to render it ineffective(hence the T-50/J-20, etc…). Radar will always have the laws of physics to deal with, so while improvements in detection will occur, it won’t suddenly make stealthy planes visible at conventional distances. Sure there are certain bands of radar that can detect stealthy planes at longer distances, but they can’t track them, or provide targeting solutions, and most importantly, they aren’t widely proliferated(and are generally not very mobile). This makes them high value targets, which once taken out of the equation, moves the foe back to square one. IRST is another method, but again, it’s range limited, and works best when cued, and is weather dependant. There are other trip wire methods available, but again, none can provide firing solutions, which means at the end of the day, it’s still a challenging task to counter a VLO foe, with a non-VLO platform.

The point of SDBs, is that the sheer numbers can soon saturate SAM sites, and at less cost than using $1M+ dollar weapons for each target. The F-35 also carries JSOW and JASSM, etc…, so SDBs aren’t the only option.

Whose report on penetration ability are you referring to- Kopp?

The beauty of NCW, is that the F-35 isn’t solely reliant on onboard sensors, for SA, but in terms of looking for targets, it can use ISAR modes of its radar(along with GMTI), its EOTS, and its ESM. Now combine these with third party targeting from either fellow F-35s, UAVs, or other platforms.

The less stealthy aircraft, would be reliant on larger support packages, use more expensive weapons, give up the element of surprise, etc….

The non-stealthy aircraft is also disadvantaged, if the foe has stealthy fighters of their own.