F 35 Dogfighting Capability Full Block 3F#

F 35 Dogfighting Capability Full Block 3F

Christopher Bogdan has made in testimony on Capitol Hill are directly contradicted by the facts reported in the memorandum. Statements that General Hawk Carlisle, the Air ForceвЂ™s Air Combat Commander, recently made to the press and that Joint Program Office chief Lt. By CYLAN - Google Play APK & OBB , Clever Dog is a smart home device with stylish design, beautifulThe PentagonвЂ™s top testing office warns that the F-35 is in no way ready for combat since it is вЂњnot effective and not suitable across the required mission areas and against currently fielded threats.вЂќ (Emphasis added) As it stands now, the F-35 would need to run away from combat and have other planes come to its rescue, since it вЂњwill need support to locate and avoid modern threats, acquire targets, and engage formations of enemy fighter aircraft due to outstanding performance deficiencies and limited weapons carriage available (i.e., two bombs and two air-to-air missiles).вЂќ In several instances, the memo rated the F-35A less capable than the aircraft we already have.The memo from the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation makes very clear that the constant stream of positive pronouncements made by the Joint Program Office and Air Force generals have been false. The F-35 program has derailed to the point where it вЂњis actually not on a path toward success, but instead on a path toward failing to deliver the full Block 3F capabilities for which the Department is paying almost $400 billion.вЂќ The 16-page memo, first reported by Tony Capaccio at Bloomberg and then by others, details just how troubled this program is: years behind schedule and failing to deliver even the most basic capabilities taxpayers, and the men and women who will entrust their lives to it, have been told to expect. Michael GilmoreвЂ™s latest memorandum is damning. While US Air Force pilots do train for classic, World War II-era dogfights , and while the F-35 holds its own and can maneuver just as well as fourth-generation planes, dogfights just arenвЂ™t that important anymore.Dr.

ItвЂ™s important to note that Congress and the public know of these severe and debilitating deficiencies only because Congress mandated an independent testing office with broad bipartisan support in 1983вЂ”and because the present director is a person of independence and integrity. The DOT&E memo clearly states that the findings contained within are вЂњ fully consistentвЂќ with the official report of the Air ForceвЂ™s own internal IOC Readiness Assessment Team report.This memo is a brutally revealing assessment of the F-35вЂ™s performance deficiencies. Before declaring its variant ready for combat the Air Force conducted and presumably read its own evaluation. Gilmore, however, this is not the case and there is evidence that the Air Force knew this already.

And since the Air ForceвЂ™s F-35 only holds 181 roundsвЂ”as opposed to 511 for the F-16 and 1,100 for the A-10вЂ”every bullet will count. The DOT&E memo reports that these door-induced aiming errors вЂњ exceed accuracy specificationsвЂќ which will make it quite difficult for pilots to hit targets. Now we know that the simple action of opening the small door causes the plane to turn slightly because of the doorвЂ™s drag, possibly enough to cause the cannon to miss. The Air Force proudly released a video of the first time an F-35A test fired its cannon in flight. In order to keep the F-35A stealthy, the internal cannon sits behind a small door that opens when the cannon is fired.

These forces support each other mutually. When close air support is discussed, it is important to consider the entire military system, both air and ground forces. This is a simple acknowledgement of the вЂњcloseвЂќ in close air support. The memo points out that close air support is normally conducted in low-air defense threat environments. But the battles in which CAS is needed donвЂ™t generally take place in areas where there are high levels of enemy air defenses.

And even if these bombs could be used in CAS, the plane has to immediately fly back to its base to re-load after only one pass over an enemy formation. As the DOT&E memorandum says clearly, вЂњThe F-35A in the Block 3i configuration has numerous limitations which make it less effective overall at CAS than most currently-fielded fighter aircraft like the F-15E, F-16, F-18 and A-10.вЂќ As mentioned earlier, the F-35A, now declared вЂњInitially Operationally Capable,вЂќ can only carry two bombs, both of which are too big to be safely used near friendly troops. (Photo by Beyond that, the F-35вЂ™s ability to perform any CAS right now is extremely limited. Marine Corps M1A1 Abram Tanks assigned to Delta Company, 1st Tanks Battalion, 1st Marine Division, conduct the Tank Mechanized Assault Course during Integrated Training Exercise (ITX) 2-15 at the Delta Prospect Training Area aboard Camp Wilson, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, February 1, 2015. And the enemy ground troops will not be dragging around bulky, lightly armored, slow-to-move, hard-to-resupply вЂњhigh threatвЂќ missile systems into the battle area because they will be too busy maneuvering and dodging bullets in the ground fight.

At 250 meters (820 feet), a 500-pound bomb has a 10 percent chance of incapacitating a friendly soldier based on the militaryвЂ™s risk-estimate table. A GBU-12, the smaller of the two bombs the F-35A can currently employ, is a 500-pound bomb. This is true especially when the plane needs to engage a target in a вЂњdanger closeвЂќ situation, with the enemy in very close proximity to friendly troops. Cannons are the most effective weapon in far more CAS situations than rockets (which the F-35A currently does not carry) or a couple of guided bombs (which it does).