Now ask yourself.. who is setting the RoE for these tests and do they have an agenda heading into the events.

Yes.. I have zero hours on any type but I think the same.

You have every right to think what you want.. but you should not (and neither should I) be thought of as an authority on the subject. Unfortunately that is not the way reporting is done these days. Nobody does fact-checking untill well after articles are published. If they did, then mistakes like this would not make it through:

As recently emerged Danish pilots have not been allowed to test fly the F-35 and will probably not be allowed until the signed purchase contract.

I am still trying to find background info on their claim of “not been allowed to test fly” the f-35. If anyone has info, please post.

Checking the latest Fast-Facts file shows that they don’t have any and none on order. Did they mean “test fly” as in evaluate? Obviously they would not be allowed to do that as since it’s a single-seater, you need to have a pilot go through the complete training cycle before he would be qualified to fly the F-35. The same applied to South Korea. Given that they are a member of the JPO and that they have access to more information & simulator time than they could ever get from Boeing, Eurofighter, or any other manufacturer proposing a fighter to Denmark, this issue is a non-starter.

IGNORE THE FOLLOWING… (thanks swerve & sorry to all the Danish & Dutch readers that I likely insulted) that’s what I get for commenting before coffee 😉

5 minutes on Google would have shown that the first Dutch F-35 unit was stood up in November of last year

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/f35_news_item.html?item_id=1371

and that they are actively participating in OT flights at Edwards AFB

http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pages/2015/August%202015/August%2024%202015/Dutch-F-35s-Conduct-Operational-Testing-at-Edwards.aspx

Best (click for a larger view)

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Worst (click for animation)

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Speaking as a resident of Southern California…BS

The only “drought” problem we have in California is the complete lack of leadership at the State level. I could go on for hours about how inept they are and how it’s got us into the issues we have now, but for now I’ll leave you with this tidbit that will put the water issue into perspective.

The almond crop in California, on it’s own, uses more water than all the people in all of Southern California combined.
The growers in Central California are not regulated in any way. They can pump as much water as they want, there are no meters for most of them.
It take over a gallon of water to produce one almond.
About 30-40 almonds are used to make a half-gallon of Almond Milk
The almond association has announced plans to EXPAND operations in California.
70% of the almonds grown in California are exported.

So, in essence we are exporting our water while in a drought…. that’s California Leadership for you.

As you can see there is very little difference between RCS values when used on a VLO designed airframe.

There is no such thing as a “dedicated anti-VLO long wavelength search radar”

So you found all those things “odd” but not this one?

Pretty amazing to not only detect but also classify the Su-35 350 nautical miles away! Seems that in addition to the amazing F-35 sensors the Russians are clueless when it comes to controlling their EM emissions from their latest and greatest fighter…

Flying 40+ km apart requires the use of datalinks which will likely be picked up by the F-35s.

Remember that Parliamentary testimony has stated that the F-35 has three times the methods to identify an object than even the F-22.

Even with that, 350nm is a bit much 🙂

Russia’s economy shrank by 4.6% in the second quarter of this year, posting the worst performance since the crippling recession of 2009, the state statistics agency reported Monday.

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-russia-economy-contracts-20150810-story.html

Russia’s economy contracted by 4.6 per cent in the second quarter compared with the same period in 2014, the largest drop in six years, marking the country’s first recession since the financial crisis in 2009.

According to figures published last month, the slide in consumer spending deepened in the second quarter with retail sales falling by 9.4 per cent in June. Growth in the industrial sector, which had been flat in the first three months of the year, also dropped by almost 5 per cent in the second quarter.
“With oil prices having fallen further over the past few months it remains too soon to speak about a recovery,” said Liza Ermolenko, an analyst with Capital Economics.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a4b9944c-3f77-11e5-b98b-87c7270955cf.html#axzz3iYbTt4kc

Battered by a combination of falling oil prices, the ruble devaluation and sanctions imposed following the Ukrainian conflict, Russia’s economy contracted by 4.6 percent in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, according to the country’s statistics office. After a decline of 2.2 percent in the previous quarter, this marks Russia’s deepest recession since the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/11/russias-economy-is-in-a-pit-according-to-economists.html

You’re right.. they are doing just fine 😮

I have seen many weapons planned for Block 4 integration.. SDB-II, JSM, even B61-12.. But METEOR was not among them.. In fact, METEOR is not yet planned for any Block.

It’s tentatively scheduled for Block 4. I say “tentatively” because at this time there is no “official” Block4 list of features but Meteor is on the latest graphic of Block 4.2 or 4.3 potential upgrades.

KPP doesn’t mean squat.. What matters is practical experience.

Current experience has shown that the VLO of the F-35 is VERY robust and relatively easy to maintain, especially in relation tot he F-117, B-2, and F-22.

IMHO, the F-35s will spend a great portion of their life flying with subnominal RCS values because the users will find the RCS treatment a good place to start saving on maintenance cost..

That’s your opinion.. What makes you think the maintenance for the SU-35 will fair any better considering that their economy is in the middle of a tailspin brought on by the downturn in global oil prices that was just exacerbated by China’s devaluation of it’s Yuan?