Test Pilot Admits the F-35 Can’t Dogfight

[douglas9]

New stealth fighter is dead meat in an air battle

A test pilot has some very, very bad news about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The pricey new stealth jet can’t turn or climb fast enough to hit an enemy plane during a dogfight or to dodge the enemy’s own gunfire, the pilot reported following a day of mock air battles back in January.

“The F-35 was at a distinct energy disadvantage,” the unnamed pilot wrote in a scathing five-page brief that War Is Boring has obtained. The brief is unclassified but is labeled “for official use only.”

The test pilot’s report is the latest evidence of fundamental problems with the design of the F-35 — which, at a total program cost of more than a trillion dollars, is history’s most expensive weapon.

The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps — not to mention the air forces and navies of more than a dozen U.S. allies — are counting on the Lockheed Martin-made JSF to replace many if not most of their current fighter jets.

And that means that, within a few decades, American and allied aviators will fly into battle in an inferior fighter — one that could get them killed … and cost the United States control of the air.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/test-pilot-admits-the-f-35-can-t-dogfight-cdb9d11a875

[Scuba]

1. Well yeah, but it's making Lockheed investor wealthier, which was the whole point.

[Gumboot]

2. Any politician who OK'd this...

... needs to be asked a few questions. Like how much were you paid to OK this disastrous plane?

Like trying to chase a Subaru Impreza up a twisty mountain road in a Dodge Challenger....

Shoulda bought the EuroFighter instead. Vastly better plane, at a fraction of the price.

[The Polack MSgt]

3. Everything wrong with the acquisition process rolled into one pig of an airframe

$1,000,000,000,000 wasted - I had to recount the zeros out loud to get to 1 TRILLION correctly - and an F4E can out fight it, but only when it isn't grounded. This is criminal

[The Polack MSgt]

4. Yes I know

I know that the F-35 went against a block 40 F16in the test (and got owned), just a bit of exaggeration for effect.
Also, I loved the Phantom II flying brick.

[roscoeroscoe]

5. My research about the F16 led me to believe there's not much that can touch it in a dogfight

In one of my classes (aircraft design) we were lucky enough to have a F16 pilot as a classmate. I read that the plane's designers were adamant about maximizing combat maneuverability and were very successful. He agreed and wrote about how much he loved the plane.

I agree it's pretty criminal how new weapon programs are approved when they aren't even able to show they are better than current systems. This is real money here, that could go for helping a lot of veterans instead of making stockholders and CEOs richer.