Is the SU-35 as good as one would believe?

[Vrenn]

I did some study and comparison of the SU-35 to the F-15EX and found that they were quite comparable with the F-15EX having a slight advantage but not enough to call it the winner.. Let's do a comparison.

Both have the AESA Radar. But the EX has almost a foot larger Radome than the 35. If the 35 has a 10 power setting on the dial, the EX has an eleven on it's dial. That means that the EX has a slight advantage at extreme range when it starts slinging missiles. And since it has twice the missiles.........

Okay, let's get them close. The 35 has thrust vectoring. That sound menacing. It is. But a Pilot has to has extreme training to take advantage of it otherwise it's just going to get him killed. The ONLY time it's going to be at an advantage is really, really slow where it can swing the nose around onto the target and fire. The F-15EX can do something similar using his rudders all the way down to about 80 kts. Use thrust vectoring to increase your turn rate will also increase your G rate and the F-15EX G rate already exceeds the pilots g rate. I would have to give this to the 35 but not by very much. This will come down to the pilot.

In a scenario where the F-22 is not a factor, the F-15EX and SU-35 will be just about even depending on how they meet. Do they meet up close or do they meet far off.

 

[Vrenn]

I did some study and comparison of the SU-35 to the F-15EX and found that they were quite comparable with the F-15EX having a slight advantage but not enough to call it the winner.. Let's do a comparison.

Both have the AESA Radar. But the EX has almost a foot larger Radome than the 35. If the 35 has a 10 power setting on the dial, the EX has an eleven on it's dial. That means that the EX has a slight advantage at extreme range when it starts slinging missiles. And since it has twice the missiles.........

Okay, let's get them close. The 35 has thrust vectoring. That sound menacing. It is. But a Pilot has to has extreme training to take advantage of it otherwise it's just going to get him killed. The ONLY time it's going to be at an advantage is really, really slow where it can swing the nose around onto the target and fire. The F-15EX can do something similar using his rudders all the way down to about 80 kts. Use thrust vectoring to increase your turn rate will also increase your G rate and the F-15EX G rate already exceeds the pilots g rate. I would have to give this to the 35 but not by very much. This will come down to the pilot.

In a scenario where the F-22 is not a factor, the F-15EX and SU-35 will be just about even depending on how they meet. Do they meet up close or do they meet far off.

One thing I noted was that both are very close to each other in design. Outside of slow performance, there will be zero difference in performance between the two. Thrust Vectoring only works at slow speeds as an advantage. The deciding factor is still the maximum G that the Pilot can stand. There are only 4 fighters in service with slow performance better than the F-15E and that is the F-18E, F-35, F-22 and the SU-35 and the F-15E or EX Pilot can decide to not fly the other guys fight.

What's funny, the Russians figured this out. The SU-35 is more important than the SU-57, easier to fly, easier to maintain and cheaper to operate. The same goes for the F-15EX versus the F-22.

 

[Vrenn]

One thing I noted was that both are very close to each other in design. Outside of slow performance, there will be zero difference in performance between the two. Thrust Vectoring only works at slow speeds as an advantage. The deciding factor is still the maximum G that the Pilot can stand. There are only 4 fighters in service with slow performance better than the F-15E and that is the F-18E, F-35, F-22 and the SU-35 and the F-15E or EX Pilot can decide to not fly the other guys fight.

What's funny, the Russians figured this out. The SU-35 is more important than the SU-57, easier to fly, easier to maintain and cheaper to operate. The same goes for the F-15EX versus the F-22.

No matter how much the SU-35 is touted, the F-15 actually hit the mark 40 years ago. It will all boil down to the pilot and not the fighter. And luck, lots of luck. My bet is on the USAF Pilot with his full training flying hours versus the Russian Pilot with his 40 hours per year flying time.