F35 - superfighter or lame duck?

[DrainBamage]

The jets sorely need more firepower in their stealthiest configuration, but they still can't attack fast-moving targets on the ground at all, a key capability for aircraft supporting troops on the ground

In what has become pretty much the norm for you in this thread, you have your facts wrong.

In stealth configuration F-35 will carry eight SDBs, which is plenty of firepower. With eight SDBs it can hit more targets than an F-16 or F-18 is able to engage, while remaining in stealth mode.

F-35 can indeed hit fast-moving targets, the pilot just has to manually lead the target like they were trained to do since in in IOC the F-35 it has the decades old GBU-12. DoD is buying an alternate 500 lb class PGM where the bomb leads the target automatically, this is a stopgap until SDB2 which has a tri-mode seeker to hit just about anything moving on land or water.

 

[Manonthestreet]

The jets sorely need more firepower in their stealthiest configuration, but they still can't attack fast-moving targets on the ground at all, a key capability for aircraft supporting troops on the ground

In what has become pretty much the norm for you in this thread, you have your facts wrong.

In stealth configuration F-35 will carry eight SDBs, which is plenty of firepower. With eight SDBs it can hit more targets than an F-16 or F-18 is able to engage, while remaining in stealth mode.

F-35 can indeed hit fast-moving targets, the pilot just has to manually lead the target like they were trained to do since in in IOC the F-35 it has the decades old GBU-12. DoD is buying an alternate 500 lb class PGM where the bomb leads the target automatically, this is a stopgap until SDB2 which has a tri-mode seeker to hit just about anything moving on land or water.

Not my facts.....Nice try though........any more lies

 

[Picaro]

I get to watch F-35's fly around most of the day here. They haven't had to dump any into the lake yet, and they are obviously maneuverable, which is always a good sign. Don't know why there is all this hate directed at it, I guess the expense is really the problem, and all the whining is just smoke over that.

 

[Manonthestreet]

2 decades and it still doesn't work might be good reason eh

 

[Daryl Hunt]

at the Navy’s League’s Sea Air Space 2017 convention and exhibition, The War Zone learned ATK Orbital believes its Hatchet and Hammer miniature bombs might be a good fit for Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The jets sorely need more firepower in their stealthiest configuration, but they still can't attack fast-moving targets on the ground at all, a key capability for aircraft supporting troops on the ground. Miniature Smart Bombs Could Help Give the F-35 Firepower It Desperately Needs
Brilliant...for a strike aircraft stuffed with all the newest and best this is incomprehensible, Projected fix 2020 or later......

NOthing is perfect. And they are already testing with the new munitions. The A model can already carry the current smaller stuff but the B and C have shorter bays and really do need those mods and munitions bad.

Before you go off, the Marines are keeping the AV8Bs around longer than they wanted. Not due to the F-35B but due to the sad condition of the F-18Cs with no F-18Es on the horizon.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

I get to watch F-35's fly around most of the day here. They haven't had to dump any into the lake yet, and they are obviously maneuverable, which is always a good sign. Don't know why there is all this hate directed at it, I guess the expense is really the problem, and all the whining is just smoke over that.

I agree with you. But we have tried to explain new weapons systems to Mano but he's stubborn. I wonder if he is an employee of Boeing.

 

[Manonthestreet]

I get to watch F-35's fly around most of the day here. They haven't had to dump any into the lake yet, and they are obviously maneuverable, which is always a good sign. Don't know why there is all this hate directed at it, I guess the expense is really the problem, and all the whining is just smoke over that.

I agree with you. But we have tried to explain new weapons systems to Mano but he's stubborn. I wonder if he is an employee of Boeing.

Ive often wondered who you were pimping your tripe for

 

[Daryl Hunt]

I get to watch F-35's fly around most of the day here. They haven't had to dump any into the lake yet, and they are obviously maneuverable, which is always a good sign. Don't know why there is all this hate directed at it, I guess the expense is really the problem, and all the whining is just smoke over that.

I agree with you. But we have tried to explain new weapons systems to Mano but he's stubborn. I wonder if he is an employee of Boeing.

Ive often wondered who you were pimping your tripe for

I don't even own a Caddie and hate heavy furs in the summer time

 

[Picaro]

2 decades and it still doesn't work might be good reason eh

What? Obviously they do 'work', or there wouldn't be any flying around.

 

[Manonthestreet]

2 decades and it still doesn't work might be good reason eh

What? Obviously they do 'work', or there wouldn't be any flying around.

Everyone you've built so far requires fixing.....and......after 2 decades
Report suggests US offers Lockheed 'multiyear' deal for F-35 joint strike fighter
Yet Grazier said the F-35 joint strike fighter program "legally does not qualify for a block buy.

 

[Picaro]

at the Navy’s League’s Sea Air Space 2017 convention and exhibition, The War Zone learned ATK Orbital believes its Hatchet and Hammer miniature bombs might be a good fit for Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The jets sorely need more firepower in their stealthiest configuration, but they still can't attack fast-moving targets on the ground at all, a key capability for aircraft supporting troops on the ground. Miniature Smart Bombs Could Help Give the F-35 Firepower It Desperately Needs
Brilliant...for a strike aircraft stuffed with all the newest and best this is incomprehensible, Projected fix 2020 or later......

NOthing is perfect. And they are already testing with the new munitions. The A model can already carry the current smaller stuff but the B and C have shorter bays and really do need those mods and munitions bad.

Before you go off, the Marines are keeping the AV8Bs around longer than they wanted. Not due to the F-35B but due to the sad condition of the F-18Cs with no F-18Es on the horizon.

The ones designed for the Israelis had the larger weapons bays, I think. They usually mod their aircraft some more when they get them home, of course. If they had any doubts about theirs they would have gone with another aircraft; their existential realities don't leave them room for taking crap that doesn't work for them for their own forces. They take a few because of their policy of readiness to take in and fully service U.S. force planes at their bases, so they use some for training ground and maintenance crews, so they wouldn't have ordered a specific design re weapons bays if they were only buying a few for training.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

at the Navy’s League’s Sea Air Space 2017 convention and exhibition, The War Zone learned ATK Orbital believes its Hatchet and Hammer miniature bombs might be a good fit for Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The jets sorely need more firepower in their stealthiest configuration, but they still can't attack fast-moving targets on the ground at all, a key capability for aircraft supporting troops on the ground. Miniature Smart Bombs Could Help Give the F-35 Firepower It Desperately Needs
Brilliant...for a strike aircraft stuffed with all the newest and best this is incomprehensible, Projected fix 2020 or later......

NOthing is perfect. And they are already testing with the new munitions. The A model can already carry the current smaller stuff but the B and C have shorter bays and really do need those mods and munitions bad.

Before you go off, the Marines are keeping the AV8Bs around longer than they wanted. Not due to the F-35B but due to the sad condition of the F-18Cs with no F-18Es on the horizon.

The ones designed for the Israelis had the larger weapons bays, I think. They usually mod their aircraft some more when they get them home, of course. If they had any doubts about theirs they would have gone with another aircraft; their existential realities don't leave them room for taking crap that doesn't work for them for their own forces. They take a few because of their policy of readiness to take in and fully service U.S. force planes at their bases, so they use some for training ground and maintenance crews, so they wouldn't have ordered a specific design re weapons bays if they were only buying a few for training.

The A is designed without any thought of the fan space so it gets a slightly longer bay. The B gets the fan so it has a slightly shorter bay. Meanwhile, the C uses the bay for the Fan for extra fuel giving it more range.

 

[Manonthestreet]

2 decades and it still doesn't work might be good reason eh

What? Obviously they do 'work', or there wouldn't be any flying around.

Everyone you've built so far requires fixing.....and......after 2 decades
Report suggests US offers Lockheed 'multiyear' deal for F-35 joint strike fighter
Yet Grazier said the F-35 joint strike fighter program "legally does not qualify for a block buy.

Whats funny about failure???

 

[Daryl Hunt]

2 decades and it still doesn't work might be good reason eh

What? Obviously they do 'work', or there wouldn't be any flying around.

Everyone you've built so far requires fixing.....and......after 2 decades
Report suggests US offers Lockheed 'multiyear' deal for F-35 joint strike fighter
Yet Grazier said the F-35 joint strike fighter program "legally does not qualify for a block buy.

Whats funny about failure???

The only failure is yours. The B and the A are both operational. The A has gone to overseas AFs and they are tickled to get them.

 

[Manonthestreet]

2 decades and it still doesn't work might be good reason eh

What? Obviously they do 'work', or there wouldn't be any flying around.

Everyone you've built so far requires fixing.....and......after 2 decades
Report suggests US offers Lockheed 'multiyear' deal for F-35 joint strike fighter
Yet Grazier said the F-35 joint strike fighter program "legally does not qualify for a block buy.

Whats funny about failure???

The only failure is yours. The B and the A are both operational. The A has gone to overseas AFs and they are tickled to get them.

thats the talking point anyway.............still not legal for a block buy which is why you will get Super 18's......

 

[Daryl Hunt]

2 decades and it still doesn't work might be good reason eh

What? Obviously they do 'work', or there wouldn't be any flying around.

Everyone you've built so far requires fixing.....and......after 2 decades
Report suggests US offers Lockheed 'multiyear' deal for F-35 joint strike fighter
Yet Grazier said the F-35 joint strike fighter program "legally does not qualify for a block buy.

Whats funny about failure???

The only failure is yours. The B and the A are both operational. The A has gone to overseas AFs and they are tickled to get them.

thats the talking point anyway.............still not legal for a block buy which is why you will get Super 18's......

When dealing with either the F-18 or 35 or any other AC for that matter, it's not Block Buy, it's MVP. It won't apply to either the new Super/Super Hornet or the F-35. Annual Contracts are to be used since the prices may go up (In the Super/Super Hornets case) or in the F-35 (where the price will go down).

 

[Picaro]

2 decades and it still doesn't work might be good reason eh

What? Obviously they do 'work', or there wouldn't be any flying around.

Everyone you've built so far requires fixing.....and......after 2 decades
Report suggests US offers Lockheed 'multiyear' deal for F-35 joint strike fighter
Yet Grazier said the F-35 joint strike fighter program "legally does not qualify for a block buy.

Whats funny about failure???

Your failure isn't funny?

 

[DrainBamage]

Not my facts.....Nice try though........any more lies

The usual non-response from someone incapable of supporting their previous post.

Fact = F-35 will carry eight SDBs in stealth configuration, so it isn't limited in how many targets it can hit compared to other fighters. The B-model will initially be limited to four but they are going to make some minor modifications to the F-35B weapons bay to allow eight.

Fact = F-35 pilots can hit moving targets by leading with laser, just as F-16/F-15/F-18 pilots did in the Gulf War with same GBU-12. Newer weapons do this automatically, but that doesn't mean your claim that F-35 can't hit a moving target with LGB is true, it just means you are naive.

If you'd like to prove this wrong be my guest.

 

[DrainBamage]

Don't know why there is all this hate directed at it, I guess the expense is really the problem, and all the whining is just smoke over that.

It became trendy among some defense blogs to constantly swipe at the F-35 as it's development came on late and over budget, and this went so far that some people (like ManOnTheStreet) became emotionally attached to the anti-F35 thing. You can usually spot these types because constantly make statements that are clearly false or greatly exaggerated to pursue this bizarre vendetta against an airplane.

As examples from ManOnTheStreet, he has claimed:

1. It doesn't work.
Obviously you see them flying around, as have millions of other people at airshows

2. It isn't stealthy
In exercises the pilots have commented that they had to turn their transponders on for the radars on the ground to see them

3. It can't fight and will get our pilots killed
20-1 kill ratio against Red Air aggressors

List goes on and on. When asked to support his claims he either ignores or claims he proved it earlier in this giant thread. An example of this is his ridiculous claims that he knows the F-35s radar cross section from the spec sheet. This would be laughable if it wasn't so sad, no official RCS is published for F-35, what he's got is anti-F35 bloggers making estimates by looking at pictures, or marble vs. BB talk that went around the internet before they even flew the first plane to know.

ManOnTheStreet takes this further by completely disregarding comments from actual F-35 pilots who rave about how dominant the plane (that doesn't work) performs, believing it all to be propaganda while he sticks to his blog writers who aren't even pilots. This would include pilots from many countries, different branches of service, and all the Red Air and hundreds of other personnel involved in exercises. All in some massive conspiracy to lie about F-35 performance. Clearly ManOnTheStreet has chosen the route that requires suspension of disbelief.

We'll continue dialing up his previous stupid posts here as more and more irrefutable evidence that the plane works just fine is published, and laugh as ManOnTheStreet stubbornly makes a fool of himself.

 

[DrainBamage]

Everyone you've built so far requires fixing.....and......after 2 decades

There is a lot of space between a plane that has open issues and saying it doesn't work. By your stupid logic F-18s with their recent oxygen issues don't work, despite a long proven decorated combat record. How many times have F-18s been grounded in the last couple years? They find issues with planes, they fix them.

A-10 first flew in the early 70s, was full production by 1976, and didn't see combat until 15 years later in 1991. During that time they went through four upgrades to resolve airframe fatigue and wing cracking issues, upgraded to work with Pave Penny, upgraded to have inertial navigation, upgraded to have LASTE and ground collision warning, upgraded to have GPS navigation, upgraded to have mult-function display, and again more upgrades to wing structure. Is the A-10 included when you say no aircraft has had some upgrades before hitting combat?

F-22 first flew in the 90s, and hit combat as a JDAM chucker in Syria in 2014. During that time it was upgraded to use said JDAM, radar was upgraded to SAR, upgrades to facilitate electronic attack and drop SDB, upgrades to structure, infamous upgrade to oxygen system, and upgrade to lower maintenance stealth coating they have on F-35. Plenty of upgrades either planned or fully implemented before hitting combat

Don't get me started on F-16.

Can we assume you believe A-10, F-22, and F-18 don't work?