@oralloy,
Quote oralloy:
Quote: The F-35's ability to detect enemy planes in the air is abysmal, and I see little indication that this will be improved anytime soon.
Also, the only air-to-air missiles that it can carry internally are obsolete and easily jammed by modern adversaries. And if it carries different missiles externally, that negates its stealth.
These are problems that might possibly be fixed. But absent signs that they will be fixed soon, the F-35 shouldn't be regarded as an air-to-air fighter.
Source? Many of these "reports" are old and outdated. The plane has been under development for over ten years, and a revolutionary fifth generation aircraft is a work in progress as the bugs get ironed out.
Many critics have arisen of the aircraft, but so far none has produced any evidence. The US has a history of producing aircraft that the enemy frequently seeks to dismiss, mostly because no Eastern country can come close to the effectiveness of US aircraft. Yet when the process is finished, no non-Western nation produces a product anywhere close to it in quality.
Meanwhile, to the many people claiming that the F-35 is never going to be ready for use, here's an item of interest.
F-35 makes American combat debut, strikes Taliban target in Afghanistan
U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Rey White, an aviation boatswains mate handler with the Essex Amphibious Ready Group, launches an F-35B Lightning II with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit from the USS Essex before the F-35B's first combat strike, Sept. 27, 2018.
FRANCISCO J. DIAZ JR./U.S. MARINE CORPS
By COREY DICKSTEIN | STARS AND STRIPES Published: September 27, 2018
WASHINGTON – The F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jet, the U.S. military’s most expensive weapon ever produced, was used Thursday for the first time in a combat mission, striking a Taliban target in Afghanistan, defense officials said.
The Marine Corps’ F-35B variant of the aircraft carried out the strike on a static target in support of ground clearance operations after flying from the USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship now positioned in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, according to statements from U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the Marine Corps. The ground force commander deemed the strike successful, according to the statements.
"The F-35B is a significant enhancement in theater amphibious and air warfighting capability, operational flexibility, and tactical supremacy," Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central, said in a statement. "As part of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group, this platform supports operations on the ground from international waters, all while enabling maritime superiority that enhances stability and security."
Officials at the Pentagon declined to disclose where the strike took place in Afghanistan, how many F-35Bs were involved in the operation or why the fighter jet was chosen for the mission. Source
In short, don't take opinion pieces of people with agendas and mistake them for news. America doesn't need Trump to save it from falling behind militarily-it remains far ahead of our enemy and we were continuing the development of weapons systems to keep us there before Trump ever took office . The same enemy that Trump so nauseatingly plays up to and seeks approval from. Who puts faith in the words of an authoritarian dictator denying what he so obviously did, which was interfere in our election.
Trump has taken the office of President of the United States from being synonymous with Leader Of The Free World to being synonymous with Putin's Puppet.
