Originally Posted by
glad rag
Well, after the PM's speech today, it seems we have signed up to a capability that is suddenly redundant and out-with the remit of the UK ex-expeditionary millitary doctrine.
What a surprise!
It sounds as though we are less likely to be trying to enforce regime change in third world countries or fighting nomads equipped with donkeys, AK-47s, RPGs and IEDs. How does that affect our requirement for the F-35?
Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
"It has created a closer alliance between the participating countries who will be operating it, the the various armed forces who will be utilising it, and those who may have to go to combat in it."
True, very true - they all suspect they've been sold a pup.......................
A pup? Not according to the pilots.
Originally Posted by Business Insider UK 4 Jan 2017
According to Lt. Col. David "Chip" Berke, the only US Marine to fly both the F-22 and the F-35, the public has a lot of learning to do when assessing a jet's capability in warfare. "The whole concept of dogfighting is so misunderstood and taken out of context," Berke said in an interview with Business Insider. "We need to do a better job teaching the public how to assess a jet's capability in warfare."
"There is some idea that when we talk about dogfighting it's one airplane's ability to get another airplane's 6 and shoot it with a gun ... That hasn't happened with American planes in maybe 40 years," Berke said...
"We need to stop judging a fighter's ability based on wing loading and Gs," Berke said of analysts who prize specifications on paper over pilots' insights. Furthermore, Berke, who has several thousand flying hours in four different airplanes, both fourth and fifth generation, stressed that pilots train to negate or avoid conflicts within visual range — and he said no plane did that better than the F-35.
Originally Posted by Scout Warrior 1 Jan 2017
Speaking to Scout Warrior as part of a special “Inside the Cockpit” feature on the F-35A, Air Force Col. Todd Canterbury, a former F-35 pilot and instructor, said the new fighter brings a wide range of new technologies including advanced sensors, radar, weapons for attack and next-generation computers.
Although he serves now as Chief, Operations Division of the F-35 Integration Office at the Pentagon, Canterbury previously trained F-35 pilots at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Canterbury is uniquely positioned to know the F-35’s margins of difference because he has spent thousands of hours flying legacy aircraft such as the service’s F-15 and F-16 fighters.
"The F-35 is a dream to fly. It is the easiest airplane to fly. I can now focus on employment and winning the battle at hand as opposed to looking at disparate information and trying to handle the airplane,” Canterbury told Scout Warrior... “If we don’t need stealth, I can load this up with weapons and be a bomb truck,” Canterbury explained...
Just out of interest, what are your credentials for making such a pejorative statement?