[edit]
Bah! Called away after starting this post, & Sintra cut in before I got back.

EHEHEHEH

About time… 😀

You are probably not aware, but the oposite (i am typing (slowly) and by the time i finish, guess who has already made my point in a much better English…) happens something like twice a month…

AWACSs don’t, but they datalink the F-35’s location data to J-20, J-31, and Su-35 nearby, which then are on the supersonic interception course on afterburner/supercruise. The F-35 doesn’t stand a chance against these jets without the F-22/F-15C AESA’s air cover.

?!

Because you had access to classified information on the J-20 and J-31, right?!

Unbelivable, someone flies a handfull of prototype´s and sudendly the main USAF combat aircraft “doesn’t stand a chance”!

I am not exactly known in this forúm for being a rabid defensor of the JSF program but this trip is unbelivable!

He is referring to the old adage that “It takes a sniper to kill a sniper.”

A good sniper cannot be seen therefore cannot be attacked via bomb, mortar, etc. Therefore the only way to get him is to become a sniper and hunt the other sniper.

This is i reference to the F-22 often being referred to the “sniper” of fighters (ie killing you before you know he is in the area and still not knowing where it came from).

Thanks

Didnt knew the Adage.

The appropriate analogy here is to the Tornado ADV. A perfectly suitable response to Britain’s requirements at the time. Did anyone else want it? No, they did not.

Without discussing the thesis (the Tornado ADV wasnt exactly a hotrod) the Saudi´s did indeed bought the dam thing (to the surprise of a lot of RAF chaps, i´ll bet! :D)

That’s fine and dandy if there is no CIWS in the target area but that ship is sailing. Future battles are going to require saturation type attacks with SDB class weapons and their standoff ranges are not that long.

Not quite, in the end of this decade a PGM in the 100/150 kg´s weight will be capable of a range in the vicinity of 100 miles.
Think on things like the MBDA Spear.

Cheers

Heck, the USAF plans on stand-off strikes against Chinese mainland targets using JASSM only(aka Operation Chimichanga), because not even a B-2 can fly over the Chinese mainland, with all the ground based radars, AWACS, and satellite monitoring.

I am all out for handling SAM sites with long range PGM´s and unmanned systems but, truth be told, Operation “Chimichanga” started with fleets of F-22 atacking simulated land radars and SAM sites with SDB´s and the bomber fleet was composed of B1´s, not B2´s.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/04/air-force-stealth-strike/

Current F-35 pilot training pipeline : T-38 -> F-16D -> F-35

Has of today there´s not one single F-35A pilot that was not an operational pilot before, and sure has hell USAF pilots are not flying training sessions in Vipers to specificaly obtain qualification in the JSF.

To become a “fully qualified, non-test pilot of the F-35” the current pipeline is the following:

Operational Sqn (Viper, Eagle, Warthog) » Academic training (Six Weeks) » Simulator plus six sorties on the F-35A at 33rd TFW (Six Weeks)

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2012/07/first-ang-pilot-starts-transit.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/first-air-national-guard-pilot-starts-transition-to-f-35-374470/
http://blogs.defensenews.com/intercepts/2012/11/f-35-training-takes-off/

What the USAF tried and didn’t work well : T-38 -> F-35

NO.

No one tried T-38 to F-35A, because no one was trained from the “Street” into the JSF. Forget that, you are wrong.

BAE model : Hawk -> F-16D -> F-35
Alenia model : M-346 -> F-16D -> F-35
KAI/LM model : T-50 F414 -> F-35
Boeing model : Boeing trainer -> F-35

Hogwash, and i am at a loss why you believe that a modern Hawk would not be a more than competent trainer into the F-35A.

I wonder that too since there is no such animal as an “export grade” F-35.:rolleyes:

Given that it comes nowhere close to the RCS optimized shaping of the F-35, the Fibermat infused RAM composite panels, or the completely buried engine… it’s paint-on RAM must be super-uber 9th gen RAM to make up the difference. 😉

X2

Anyone who believes that an improved SH, Eagle, Eurocanard, Flanker, etc, matches the RCS of an F-35 is seriously deluding themselves.
Unless some technological miracle “Klingon invisible cloaking” device appears, then the JSF will maintain a serious edge on RCS over earlier generation aircrafts .