F-35 Fat Amy - In 2015, a report emerged about a series of combat tests between America's new stealth fighter, the F-35, and the country's fourth-generation platform, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the results were overwhelming. The F-35, reportedly, was
By its own precedent, it loses scrap after scrap between two jets. But as we discovered, the report lacked significant context...and the F-35 wasn't all it cracked up to be.
F-35 Fat Amy
Today, fighter pilots often dismiss the importance of things like air combat maneuvers (the technical term for dogfighting) as reasons why you can't see the range of modern sensors and air-to-air weapons so effectively. Theaters like this
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Any time in the actual cabin. But make no mistake, modern fighters can win dogfights in the air... and the truth is, most pilots involved in such a fight would choose the F-35.
Platforms like the F-35 lean heavily on the prevailing wisdom that values data fusion and minimal care over hot-rod performance, where dogfighting is a thing of the past. In fact, the F-35B and C are specialized for service against amphibious assault ships and aircraft carriers, limited to short supersonic sprints of 60 seconds or less to protect delicate radar-absorbing coatings on airframes. Meanwhile, Cold War speedsters like the F-16 could crawl to Mach 2 when flying without cannon, and the famed air superiority F-15 could do it faster than Mach 2.5.
This shift in focus led many to question how effective the new American fighters would be in a one-on-one matchup against the more skilled, but older, fighters. Russia's 5th generation Su-57 may not be as impressive, but the country's 4th generation fighters, such as the highly capable Su-35, are something to behold. Its thrust vectoring stunts make for a more dynamic show than the F-35's "talk softly and carry a big stick" design, but what does it do?
In 2015, David Ochs of Over at War Is Boring published details of a report detailing how the F-16 repeatedly kicked the F-35 in the tail. The exercises reportedly took place on January 14, 2015, near the Edwards Air Force Base, California, over the Maritime Test Range, part of the Pacific Ocean.
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A fight took place between a modern F-16D Block 40 and an Air Force F-35A. The F-35A requires a full-length runway for takeoff and landing (unlike its STOVL and carrier-capable siblings). The F-35A is the only one of three iterations of the Joint Strike Fighter to carry the GAU-22/A quad-barrel 25 mm Gatling gun, making it well-suited for dogfighting near what these exercises were intended to be. reflect.
"The evaluation focuses on the aircraft's overall performance in performing various specific maneuvers in a dynamic environment," an unnamed F-35 test pilot wrote in the report. "It consisted of traditional basic combat maneuvers in offensive, defensive and neutral formations at altitudes of 10,000 to 30,000 feet."
The F-35 does not carry external munitions or fuel tanks because it does not engage in combat to maintain its stealth profile, while the F-16
Carries external deposits. In Ox's report, he identifies this as an advantage that the F-35 brought with it to testing, and the truth is, it's an advantage that will definitely carry over to the platform.
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Once the fight began, the F-35 seemed to struggle immediately, unable to deploy the Viper in its crosshairs due to its "slow" performance.
"Even with the limited F-16 target configuration, the F-35A was at a different power disadvantage for each engagement," an unnamed test pilot said after the exercise.
In offensive and defensive duels, the F-35 consistently underperformed.
"Instead of catching the Marauder to gain the lead, the muzzle velocity was slow, allowing him to easily make his game before adjusting the gun," wrote the JSF's pilot, effectively dictating the F-35's speed. the nose The ratio allowed the F-16 to remain elusive.
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This same nose speed problem plagued the F-35 again when the tide turned, allowing the F-16 to quickly get a one-shot fix while the Joint Strike Fighter struggled to escape the Viper cannon.
The only way the F-35 could win a fight with the Viper, the report suggested, was by going into an extreme maneuver that gave it a chance to lower the enemy's nose to launch a missile attack, but by doing so, the report said. , it robbed the F-35 of speed, leaving it vulnerable to a follow-up attack.
"The technique required a commitment to lose energy and was a temporary opportunity before regaining energy ... eventually reverting to defense," the pilot wrote.
Axe's report and accompanying context suggest the F-35 is far inferior to older aircraft. But it's never too late
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F-35 haters ate up the report...but there was already evidence that it didn't break through in testing.
The report confirmed what many already believed about Lockheed Martin's new joint strike fighter, playing into the increasingly popular narrative that the trillion-dollar (plus) F-35 program produced an impressive aircraft that fell short of expectations.
These particular judgments cannot provide a worthy opponent... but that doesn't mean that statement and the news that followed didn't mislead the public about the F-35's true capabilities, let alone how I would do it.
The first sign that something was amiss came about halfway through the original article, where Ax explains how the F-35 was able to use this particular maneuver to attack the F-16 with missiles aimed at the nose and achieve its only success. It looks like the pilot was working hard to find the plane's target...but most likely an F-35
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In fact, the F-35 can fire "out of line of sight," meaning it can target enemy aircraft while they are flying.
The report's poor portrayal of the F-35 is not based on the jet's actual capabilities.
, was one of the first F-35s delivered to the Air Force, and had software limitations that prevented the pilot from pushing the jet closer to its structural limits. The F-16D I was flying, of course, had no such restrictions. But this is not all.
In an article written by Chris Osborne for the National Interest, the reasons for the F-35's poor dogfighting performance began to take shape.
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The F-35 is the AF-2, an F-35 designed for flight science, or flight quality, flight testing. It lacks many of the components that make up the current 5th generation fighter jets. production F-35,” the F-35 JPO office said in a written statement.
So why can't the F-35 fighter jet fire its missiles at its F-16 adversary without targeting its nose?
For this matter? The answer is simple: the F-35 participating in these exercises does not have all the systems necessary to use its own capabilities.
The AF-2 "does not have weapons or software that would allow the F-35 pilot to turn around, point a weapon at the helmet and fire at the enemy without firing the aircraft at the target".
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The AF-2 F-35 used in these dogfights also lacked the radar-absorbing coating necessary for the stealth profile of these aircraft. In fact, current radar absorbing materials (RAM) are estimated to absorb more than 70-80% of incoming electromagnetic energy (from radar waves), making it very difficult to track the F-35 on the 'F-16 radar.
In other words, the F-35 that struggled in these exercises only flew at a percentage of its full capabilities in terms of aerobatics, guidance and situational awareness.
If an F-35 and F-16 are on opposite sides of a conflict and suddenly come within visual range of each other, a close-turning Viper might have a chance of killing the F-35, but that doesn't mean the F-16 is better. In combat, anything can happen, and things like pilot error or ease of approach can give less advanced jets a pressing advantage…
Under combat conditions, the F-35 is more likely to shoot down any F-16 before the Viper pilot.
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. It's hard to win an air battle when the parachute is open before you know the fight is going on.
Alex Hollings is an author, father, and Navy veteran specializing in foreign policy and defense technology analysis. She holds a master's degree in communications from Southern New Hampshire University and a bachelor's degree in corporate and organizational communications from Framingham State University.
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