5 Reasons if You Try to Fight an F-35 You're Basically Dead

[Chock 17,769]

With regard to upcoming conflicts, stand by for the ongoing strife between the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (i.e. what most people know as China) to brew up again when the new Top Gun movie comes out (supposedly July of this year). Like a lot of films these days, it is pandering to the Chinese market somewhat, since this is a big audience, but this is going to lead to some controversy because of a change which was made to Tom Cruise's outfit in the movie.

In case you were unaware, that jacket Cruise wears in the original movie had a patch which, in the story, was meant to be his fathers from the cruise his dad made during the Vietnam war aboard the USS Galveston, which went to Japan and the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) i.e. this one:

Since relations with Japan and Taiwan are somewhat frosty with China to say the least, the patch has been changed to no longer feature the details of that ship's tour and now the Japanese Kyokujitsu-ki (Rising Sun) and the Taiwanese flag are completely removed, instead it now reads 'Indian Ocean Cruise 85-86' rather than referring to the early Sixties tour of the region by the USS Galveston. There is a slight storyline excuse for this, since the new patch on his jacket is a reference to the battle at the end of the original Top Gun movie, but it is still obviously an attempt to not rile up the Chinese lest this provoke a ban on the film in China which would seriously impact its takings.

Expect this to make it into the wider news coverage when that movie comes out and it will doubtless stoke trouble between China and Taiwan, which has never really gone away and sees both countries making threats from time to time. The US, and most European countries, find themselves in the middle of all that and always have done historically, not least for the US having provided the P-47s the Taiwanese used to fend off the Chinese MiGs, Yaks and Lavochkins which attempted to gain air superiority over the straits to cover an invasion (the Taiwan Straits Crisis). Thus it was in many ways a proxy war, or at the very least an ideological one at a time, since it was when the Korean War was in progress too.

That effort by the Chinese to invade Taiwan failed miserably, with the P-47s reportedly gaining a 20-1 kill ratio over the Russian types, thus a few water-borne assault attempts were disastrous for the Chinese and so it is a very sore point with them, although it does kind of confirm that the P-47 Thunderbolt was indeed the best fighter of WW2, which is hardly surprising since it was nearly three times the price of a P-51 Mustang.

We can only wish that it won't devolve into all-out combat, but I would not be surprised if there were a few 'incidents' where we will probably see how modern combat aeroplanes with datalinks to AWACs and individual radars, do against one another, since I should imagine there are plenty of components in the F-35's avionics which have 'made in Taiwan' stamped on them, because everything is made over there these days lol. Anyway, hopefully nobody will be killed over all this forthcoming posturing, although I suspect that is a slim hope.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Chock

[IUBrian 151]

There certainly seen to be some misconceptions about the F-35, both in terms of cost and operational capacity. While initially expensive, it’s not some super-expensive “super weapon.” That might be the case with something like the B2, but as production of the F-35 has ramped up, it’s per unit cost has gone down, to the 80 million per plane range, comparable to far less capable 4th gen aircraft. And it’s hardly being produced in small numbers - as of now 615 have been built, with numerous purchases and future orders from other countries (which says something about how they perceive its capabilities) as well as a planned 2456 total to be purchased by the U.S. 

Its advantages are not limited to just stealth (like having an RCS 1000 times smaller than an SU-57), or a 6 times greater detention range which is “game over” in a BVR combat environment. It also has far greater detection capabilities, such as third gen AESA radar and 360 degree spherical IRST. A single F-35 also has EW capabilities comparable to a dedicated package of Growlers. These advantages have been shown time and again in exercises against 4th generation aircraft that are equipped with EW packages, AWACS, and a simulated hostile SAM infested environment. If these capabilities  were insignificant in a near peer warfare environment, not only would our allies not be attempting to purchase the F35, China and Russia wouldn’t be attempting to replicate its capabilities with competing aircraft of their own (though they remain decades behind). None of this means that the F35 (and F22) are invincible, but at a time where manned aircraft and air supremacy are still an important part of modern warfare it is a force multiplying game changer even if it were not to be produced in large numbers. But it is. And yes, sometimes technology can be a game changing force multiplier - the F117’s performance in Iraq in one of the most heavily defended threat environments in the world was an eye-opener, for example.

As to the idea, “well, how about just deploying 1000 cheap drones to overwhelm the numerically disadvantaged expensive aircraft,” put aside the practicality of the capacity to arm inexpensive and easily detectable drones in the numbers with the BVR capacity to challenge something like an F35, that assumes that there isn’t an inexpensive counter to that strategy as well. Or to use an analogy, I spend millions of dollars on a main battle tank. You say fine, I’ll just have 100 cheap expendable soldiers equipped with anti-tank weapons. I say fine, I’ll deploy 500 M4 equipped infantry to target your 100 soldiers while pelting them from a distance with HE from my tank. You say, ok, I’ll get a few airplanes to bomb your tank and solders...and so on...Drones, SAM’s, etc., don’t supplant something like a 5th gen aircraft, they are all part of a total package used together. 

A final point is that while exercises are just that, these exercises are against aircraft with a proven record, such as the F15, that have shown themselves in actual combat to be near invincible to anything thrown at them. While not a perfect analogue to an actual war, they are pretty good indication of how the F35 would stack up against near peer adversaries whose capabilities are only now reaching parity with platforms that are 40 years old. And things such as the attritional aspects of warfare degrading capacities, while true,  applies at least equally to any adversary, meaning if the capacities of both are degraded over time, the F35 will still retain an advantage (which again, is not limited to just stealth). 

[HighBypass 2,339]

5 hours ago, martin-w said:

Yep, weapons are stored in the internal bays when stealth is required

but not the quantity and type shown dangling under that f-35's wings...