A blast from the past beesly on the F-35

The F-35 has been criticized lately for its lack of time on station for the CAS mission, at least in comparison to the A-10. In the case where targets are very hard to find there is no point carrying external payloads. In case there is no AD threat the F-35 will be able to carry external tanks.

Using drones would probably be more cost-effective. The A-160 sounds impressive with its radar that can see through foliage.

It would probably need defensive systems to be survivable. One could imagine the F-35s receiving targeting information from them one way or another.

To survey cities a reaper with gorgon stare would be well adapted.

In case the targets are hidden in tunnels and building, there is not much you can do to destroy them, but at least you have a mission kill.

External weapons on the F-35 would be used in case they can be usefull. In case where it is easy to find a lot of targets, half of the F-35s could be used in stealth configuration with their 8 internal SDBs to find targets, and the other half would stay behind with SDBs on external stations ( 24 total ). I imagine it will be possible at some point to build weapon pods for the SDBs to allow the F-35 ‘bomb trucks’ to get closer to attack further.

I just read the A-160 has been cancelled, well too bad, one more big waste for the US Army. Maybe they could reuse the radar on another drone.

Omg can you imagine if the A-160 tech was married to commanche?
Whats the matter with the Army? A Commanche that could fly for 18 hours straight unmanned, would be invaluable in the south China Sea.

Airframe life has little to do with it, you do not fight a conflict while attempting to preserve overall airframe limits. What it actually comes down to is practical application. There is a finite limit to the number of targets a single fighter jet can prosecute effectively. Unless you plan on launching all 40 SBDs at two or three targets that load out is a waste.

An excellent example of realistic loadouts is available at F-15e.info here, http://www.f-15e.info/joomla/weapons/loadout-configurations What we see is that an F-15E, that has the ability to haul 20,000+ of ordnance, usually goes to war with 7,000lbs or less.

Except the F-35 has been designed for that very mission.

Using cruise missiles and manned fighters with stand-off weapons only works when your target set allows it. For targets that are mobile, pop-up or are time sensitive a manned platform becomes the superior option. When you introduce GPS jamming and other denial aspects into the battlespace, then a manned platform becomes almost mandatory.

Until that time there are plenty of other platforms that can launch JASSMs etc from outside the battlespace while the USAF etc uses F-35s for precision targeting of mobile threats within an A2/AD region with the current suite of integrated weapons.

So im right like always, Msphere is clueless.

In Western hemisphere, Gripen. If we exclude F-16.
Still a beefed up F-15 like SA or better may still be worth the penny for some Nations, even if it exeed $100 mil.
It can still do better parameter on some areas that the F-35 cannot.

Yes it is more expensive to operate. But you need 3-4 f-35 to haul the same amount of ordinance as two F-15SA.
THAT IS NOT CHEAPER in total operational cost.
Word of advance, stop moaning about key pub.
If it is so bad, just leave.

Ok Ill bite, even though there is an old proverb about arguing with a fool, SIGH!:

1. A F-35A with a full internal external load should be able to carry 40+ small diameter bombs.
That is not a small amount by any stretch.

2. The F-15s heavily loaded will need escort, jamming, SEAD, and likely top cover to get in and out of a heavy anti-access area. This implies that youd need multiple dissimilar types, with multiple configurations andvfuel Fractions. A 4 flight of stealthy F-35s would carry 32 SDBs internally, + 8 Amraams for self escort
This is more than adequate for getting in and out of most places. Now all planes have the same configuration, same fuel load, making mission planning a breeze.
See package Q know why.
3. If your really worried about F-35 matching the F-15E for range just use 4× JASSM-ER + 2 JSM or 8 SBD in the bay.

We conclude that youll actually need twice the F-15s do do the job of an F-35. Not the opposite.

I definitely expect the J-31, designed under a privately funded venture by a company whose last indigenous design was J-8II Finback, to match the “almost-F-22/almost-$60million” uberfighter using relatively modest technologies and relatively primitive engines from MiG-29. If that ain’t funny enough then I don’t know what is..

The sad part is, you hate the F-35 so much, I cant tell if your being funny or not.

The F-35 couldn’t fly even with four of those fitted..

So you expect the Chinese fighter with the same planform
To achieve a better TW ratio? Are Chinese planes made from some kind of unobtanium? Maybe magic pixie dust?
Msphere how will the J-31 out accelerate a F-35, using this engine?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]245969[/ATTACH]

More http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=28954&start=15