Don't Bring an F-35 to a Dogfight

Test Pilot Admits the F-35 Can’t Dogfight*

New stealth fighter is dead meat in an air battle

by DAVID AXE

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.

...

The F-35 jockey tried to target the F-16 with the stealth jet’s 25-millimeter cannon, but the smaller F-16 easily dodged. “Instead of catching the bandit off-guard by rapidly pull aft to achieve lead, the nose rate was slow, allowing him to easily time his jink prior to a gun solution,” the JSF pilot complained.

And when the pilot of the F-16 turned the tables on the F-35, maneuvering to put the stealth plane in his own gunsight, the JSF jockey found he couldn’t maneuver out of the way, owing to a “lack of nose rate.”

The F-35 pilot came right out and said it — if you’re flying a JSF, there’s no point in trying to get into a sustained, close turning battle with another fighter. “There were not compelling reasons to fight in this region.” God help you if the enemy surprises you and you have no choice but to turn.

...

And to add insult to injury, the JSF flier discovered he couldn’t even comfortably move his head inside the radar-evading jet’s cramped cockpit. “The helmet was too large for the space inside the canopy to adequately see behind the aircraft.” That allowed the F-16 to sneak up on him.

In the end, the F-35 — the only new fighter jet that America and most of its allies are developing — is demonstrably inferior in a dogfight with the F-16, which the U.S. Air Force first acquired in the late 1970s.

Jack of all trades, master of none; Putting all your eggs in one basket; Throwing good money after bad -- There are probably other cliches as well that could be used to describe the F-35. Of course, just because something is a cliche, doesn't mean it's not true.

The US is in all or nothing with this plane, and it's dragging it's own allies down with it thanks to the shared funding of the JSF program.

I would think there are still some alternatives they could pursue, from the Rafale to the Eurofighter or the Super Hornet on the more advanced end, to fill the gaps in their aging forces, whilst holding off on too much of a commitment to purchasing F-35's till the US can get its act together.  But they presumably still want their flying Stealth Swiss Army Knife, and I suppose that, above and beyond the psychological pull of those sunk costs, there may be contractual consequences to placing orders later versus now.

Whatever.  I'm sure they know what they're doing.


* But of course the F-35 is so advanced that situation would surely never arise...until it did.


Update: Looks like WiB just published the actual report in .png format with the names of personnel removed.