We've heard of significant shortcomings before with the fighter jet that's supposed to be America's future, but this is just as bad as it gets. The F-35 performed so dismally in a dogfight, that the test pilot remarked that the it had pretty much no place fighting other aircraft within visual range. Quick! Kill the A-10 so we will have the money to fix this annoying little problem!
And it's even worse than a mere maneuverability issue. At one point, the pilot's helmet was so big he couldn't even turn his head inside the cockpit.
That's according to a scathing report obtained by our friends over at War Is Boring that details the results of visual range air-to-air engagement tests between an F-35A and an F-16C. The F-35, which the US Air Force, Navy, and Marines are expected to rely upon, in addition to the air arms of militaries across the world for at least the next few decades, was supposed to be better than its F-16 predecessor in all respects.
The F-35's ability to compete against other fighter aircraft in a close-in dogfight, even against the decades old designs it looks to replace, has always been a contentious issue. Long ago, the F-35's maneuverability was planned to far exceed that of fourth generation fighters. Over time, those claims eroded to the point where the troubled stealth jet is described as being "about as maneuverable as an F-16."
The fact that the F-35 can carry its weapons and fuel internally was of course the major deciding factor in being able to make such a claim.
Keep in mind, all of this is anecdotal, but testing reports over almost the last decade have supported the fact that the F-35 was not nearly as nimble as many would like it to be. Still, all claims regarding its performance against other fighters in a dogfight remained largely academic, with only bits of data to compare in a vacuum.
Which is why the candid report described in the War Is Boring article finally gives us a good first hand account as to how capable -- or incapable as it may be -- the F-35 is in the within-visual-range fight.
The test pilot flying the F-35 makes it very clear that the new jet, even in its ideal configuration without any external stores, was no match against a Block-40 F-16C in a less-than-ideal configuration with a pair of under-wing fuel tanks:
Even with the limited F-16 target configuration, the F-35A remained at a distinct energy disadvantage for every engagement.
In dogfighting, energy is everything, and if your enemy has more kinetic and potential energy for maneuvers than you do, then you're toast.
The report even goes into what is akin to a fairly desperate move usually only used in one-on-one air combat maneuvers, known as a rudder reversal, that the F-35 is apparently decent at performing at slow speeds. The fact that this was even detailed in the report as a useful tactic is telling. In reality, using such maneuvers means you are probably going to die if any other bad guys are in the area as it rapidly depletes the aircraft's energy state, leaving it vulnerable to attack.
Another area that the test pilot highlights on is the F-35's abysmal rearward visibility. David Axe from War Is Boring writes:
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.
The report goes on to make other telling remarks about the F-35's air combat maneuvering performance. It should be noted that the aircraft's flight software can probably still be tweaked to offer a little wider envelope for pilots to traverse during a hard turning dogfight, but seeing as this test occurred this year (almost a decade after the first F-35 flew), the amount of extra agility that can be squeezed out of the F-35 is most likely marginal at this point. Also, the aircraft flown in the test, an F-35A, is the most maneuverable F-35 variant of the lot, being capable of pulling 9g, while the carrier capable F-35C is capable of pulling 7.5g and the short takeoff and vertical landing variant, the F-35B, is only capable of pulling 7g.
All of this also reminds us of the fact that we cannot believe the information coming from the program itself, which is troubling. Only as the aircraft continues to enter the fleet (which is a whole other ridiculous story) will we begin to hear more honest reviews of its performance, as in the past we have had to rely on unclassified congressional watch dog reports and other unbiased sources to identify trends and key data points.
Eisenhower, and others to some degree, did warn us gravely to beware of the military-industrial complex, I supposed of which the F-35 is the poster child.
The fact that the F-35 is maybe not really a good fighter at all is reminiscent of the question that we've been asking for years -- if you don't really need competitive maneuverability, than why do we need a fighter at all?
The US Navy is currently testing a robotic ship that would be able to autonomously hunt enemy diesel submarines.
Originally conceived as a DARPA project, the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) is designed to hunt the next generation of nearly silent enemy diesel submarines.
Diesel submarines are quickly proliferating around the world due to their low cost. Russia recently announced that it has launched the world's "quietest submarine."
To accomplish its submarine-hunting mission, the ACTUV project is structured around three primary goals: the ability to outmatch diesel submarines in speed at significantly less cost than existing systems, the system's ability to safely navigate the oceans in accordance with maritime law, and the ability to accurately track diesel submarines regardless of their location.
Tests of the ACTUV have been promising. Defense One reported in March that during six weeks of testing off the coast of Mississippi the ACTUV was capable of autonomously avoiding randomly moving vessels while navigating around natural obstacles.
The next major test for the ACTUV will be having the drone attempt to trail a submarine while other vessels attempt to block it.
Although diesel submarines are not capable of carrying out open ocean operations for as long or as quickly as nuclear submarines, diesel submarines still present the US with an asymmetric challenge. Significantly cheaper and more quiet-running than their nuclear counterparts, diesel subs can enable navies around the world to harass military and civilian transport along coastal routes.
The threat of diesel submarines could increase, as Franz-Stefan Gady notes at The Diplomat, as the next generation of these vessels will feature propulsion systems and lithium-ion batteries, making them even quieter and harder to detect.
The technical challenges are steep: "Picking up the quiet hum of a battery-powered, diesel-electric submarine in busy coastal waters is like trying to identify the sound of a single car engine in the din of a major city," Rear Admiral Frank Drennan said in March 2015.
By creating the ACTUV, the US Navy will be able to more accurately track the proliferation of enemy diesel submarines. The transition to using drones for such missions will also ultimately save the Navy considerable resources and manpower.
"Instead of chasing down these submarines and trying to keep track of them with expensive nuclear powered-submarines, which is the way we do it now, we want to try and build this at significantly reduced cost," DARPA program manager Ellison Urban said at a National Defense Associate Event in Virginia.
"It will be able to transit by itself across thousands of kilometers of ocean and it can deploy for months at a time. It can go out, find a diesel-electric submarine and just ping on it."
Itself, king of the Philippine Deep--that awesome canyon where the sea goes down six miles--woke from his recharge period and looked around suspiciously.
His Alter Ego said, "Well, how is it with Itself today?
His Alter Ego was a booster, a goader, a stimulant to action, and, in his limited way, a companion.
His was almost perfect perception. Clearly and unmistakably, Itself made out the intruder in the far distance of that twisting ravine. A ship! Anchored to rock at the very edge of the canyon.
The Alter Ego goaded. "You're not going to let somebody invade your territory, are you?"
Instantly, Itself was furious. He activated the jet mechanism in the underslung belly of his almost solid metal body. A nuclear reactor immediately heated the plates of the explosion chamber. The sea water which flowed through the chamber burst into hissing clouds of steam, and he jetted forward like a missile.
Arriving at the ship, Itself attacked the nearest of the four front anchor lines with the nuclear-powered heat beam in his head. When he had severed it, he turned to the second cable, and burned through it. Then he moved for the third cable.
But the startled beings aboard the alien ship had spotted the twenty-foot monster in the black waters below.
Splash! The Wabbler plunged into the water with a flare of luminescence and a thirty-foot spout of spume and spray rising where it struck... It dived swiftly for twenty feet... Then its falling checked. It swung about, and its writhing tail settled down below it... and then slowly, it settled downward. Its ten-foot tail seemed to waver a little, as if groping.
Then it made small sounds from inside itself. More bubbles came from the round place like a mouth. It settled one foot, two feet, three...
The Wabbler leaned infinitesimally toward the shore. Presently its flexible tail ceased to be curved where it lay upon the ooze. It straightened out. Then the Wabbler moved. Shoreward...
[Al Ahram] The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Security Council on Monday extended for another year a peacekeeping mission to protect civilians and ensure aid delivery in Sudan's remote western region of Darfur despite calls by Khartoum to withdraw the $1.1 billion operation.
Law and order have collapsed in much of Darfur, where mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003 against the Arab-led government in Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination. A joint African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... -United Nations Mission (UNAMID) deployed in 2007.
Sudan asked UNAMID late last year to prepare to leave amid a dispute over attempts by the mission to investigate an alleged mass rape by Sudanese soldiers in the Darfur town of Tabit. The government denies any wrongdoing by the soldiers.
In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member Security Council stressed that any withdrawal of the mission would be measured against benchmarks and conditions on the ground and implemented in a phased, flexible, reversible manner.
"Now is not the time to cut and run. Sudan has the greatest number of internally displaced people in Africa. And 2014 saw the worst level of suffering in the last 10 years," British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told news hounds.
The council expressed deep concern at the serious deterioration in the security situation in Darfur, "in particular, through a marked escalation of hostilities between government forces and rebel gangs."
"UNAMID must continue to give priority in decisions about the use of available capacity and resources to the protection of civilians ... and ensuring safe, timely and unhindered humanitarian access," the council resolution said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2015 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A federal judge in Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... has issued an order to seize the assets of five foreign companies exploring oil in waters off the disputed Malvinas islands, also known as the Falklands to the British. Mistakes destined to be repeated, and all of that.
Judge Lilian Herraez, based in the Tierra del Fuego region of southern Argentina, ordered on Saturday the freeze of USD 156 million and other assets such as ships, calling on the oil firms to halt their drilling activities around the islands.
Herraez accused the companies of contaminating the environment and operating without the Argentine government authorization for their explorations.
According to the prosecution, the ruling was issued concerning "illegal activities of exploration, search and eventual extraction of hydrocarbons in proximity to the Falkland Islands."
Rockhopper Exploration plc, Premier Oil plc and Falkland Oil and Gas Limited, which are all British, as well as the US Noble Energy Inc. and French-owned Italia-based Edison International SpA are among the firms named in the case.
Located about 500 kilometers (about 300 miles) off Argentina's coast and home to about 3,000 inhabitants, the disputed islands have been declared part of the British Overseas Territories since Britannia established its colonial rule on the territories in 1833.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Like there's not enough trouble in the world, Argentina has to join the festivities?
#2
...Sadly, the Kirchner regime there is one bad day away from being hung from the lamp posts, and it's an old and honored custom to stir up hatred against somebody else in a desperate attempt to hold on to power for a few more days. Not to worry, though - even in its current debilitated condition, the British military will hand the Argentines their backsides.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/30/2015 5:34 Comments ||
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For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Both sides in this year old war continue to blame the other for ceasefire violations over the past 48 hours, according to official and Russian language news accounts.
Artillery fire has been reported Monday in western Donetsk suburbs, Shirokino, which is near the Sea of Azov and in Gorlovka, north of Donetsk city. Additionally, firefights with small arms have been reported as well.
According to a new release posted on its website, the defense ministry of Donetsk said that ceasefire violations over the previous 24 hours have taken place 15 times, in locations such as the western Donetsk city sectors of Spartak, Oktyabrskiy district and at the airport. The report said that 82mm and 120mm mortars were used as well as 125mm tank guns.
Ukrainian news report say that rebels have been conducting infantry attacks on Peski and in Avdievka over the same time period. According to a news account in tsensor.net, elements of the Ukrainian 95rd Independent Airborne brigade were preparing to fight off more rebel infantry attacks on Monday. According to the report, rebel forces have been probing into the area, but more attacks have not materialized. Rebel forces launched an infantry attack on Avdievka last Thursday, but were driven back by the Ukrainians.
Another news account posted on korrespondent.net said that rebel forces have violated the ceasefire more than 70 times including in Marinka and Krasnogorovka using 82mm and 120mm mortars on Saturday. Artillery fire on Ukrainian positions also were recorded in Opytnoye and in Avdievka.
According to Doentsk ministry of defense spokesman Lt. Colonel Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian forces have reinforced their positions near Marinka with a total of six tanks. He also is quoted as saying eight 122m self propelled howitzers were found nearby at Ostroye.
On Monday, a group with the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observed several violations of the ceasefire near the grounds of the Donetsk airport, a total of 139 "explosions", not counting small arms fire, according to a separate news account in korrespondent.net.
Ukrainian military units as well as rebel units hold parts of the Donetsk airport area.
Rebel official reports say that Ukrainian artillery struck western residential regions of Gorlovka starting at 1900 hrs Monday night (Moscow time) and continuing for several hours. The report characterized the artillery attacks as "massive."
In and near Shirokino
Saturday, according to a korrespondent.net news account, rebel forces fired artillery on Ukrainian positions near Mariupol, using mortars.
More recently, according to a separate news account in korrespodent.net, quoting spokesman for the Ukrainian volunteer "Azov" Regiment, Yaroslav Chepurnoy, rebel artillery hit Ukrainian targets in several towns around Shirokino and Mariupol, using 122mm rocket artillery. One position, a Ukrainian observation post in Berdyansk was redeployed due to the intense artillery fire, contrary to reports by the OSCE that that position had been abandoned.
Conflicting reports from the OSCE and from Ukrainian sources have enmerged. Ukrainian news sources say that rebel artillery hit targets in Starognatovki and Granitnoye Monday starting at around 0900 hrs, using 122mm self propelled tube artillery.
Sunday rebel artillery struck Ukrainian positions in Shirokino and in Starognatovki using 82mm and 120 mm mortars, small arms fire and RPG fire.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
#3
#2, I say the same thing as the death toll listed for Hiroshima rose from 80,000 to 100,000 to 125,000 to 150,000 over the years. Obviously counting people who were there not weapons victims. A lot of those people out lived a lot more people born since '45.
[NEWS.YAHOO] Greece will not pay a 1.6 billon euro loan installment due to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, a Greek government official confirmed on Monday, highlighting the depth of the financial crisis facing the country.
Ministers have said repeatedly that Greece would not have the funds to pay the IMF unless it reached a deal with creditors to unlock 7.2 billion euros in bailout funds frozen while the two sides wrestled over the conditions demanded of Athens.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
I am so surprised by this. You could knock me over with two by four. Literally.
I do like the "we can't pay you back unless you loan us more money" part, though.
#2
As further evidence that Syriza never ever had any other intention except to default on the E.U./IMF loan: On Saturday evening the E.U./ IMF financial ministers, in a last ditch effort to prevent Greek default, offered a new proposal conceding to the major and majority of Greek demands. Greek negotiators refused to even look at the new proposal and walked out on negotiations. A few hours later Tsipras called for the referendum.
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, (like Obama) won election by making promises to the people he knew from the beginning were impossible to keep. This week leaders of the IMF and EU/ECB once again called Tsipras's bluff.
With bailout funds due to expire on June 30, and the opposition party calling for a new elections, Tsipras knew the ruse was over. Late on Saturday night, Tsipras desperate for a scapegoat responded by calling instead for a "referendum" (to be held on July 5).
The referendum, asks the Greek people to choose whether to accept the E.U. bailout (and the demanded austerity) or leave the Euro.
As things currently stand, there will be no actual bailout proposal being offered on July 5 for the Greek people to accept or reject.
Since the bailout program will already be expired and the banks out of money, the referendum will be pointless except to assign blame away from Tsipras.
If the Greek voters vote "no" then the default gets blamed on the people. If people vote "yes" the E.U. and the people get blamed.
Either way the vote solves nothing because the EU/ECB and the IMF will still refuse to release bailout funds without a new negotiated agreement.
But either way Tsipras passes the responsibility and blame onto the backs of the Greek voters.
(Where in reality it probably should be anyway for electing a communist in the first place)
[RFE/RL] Serbia has unveiled a monument to Gavrilo Princip, whose assassination of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince in Sarajevo helped trigger World War I. Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, still inflames controversy in the Balkans.
Hundreds of Serbs attended the unveiling ceremony on June 28, the day of the assassination in 1914. It is also the Serbian national holiday St. Vitus day.
President Tomislav Nikolic described Princip as a hero. He said, "Princip was a symbol of the idea of freedom."
#1
There's actually been a Princip 'monument' of sorts. A set of bronze footprints in the pavement where Princip stood when he assassinated Franz Ferdinand. No sign to tell you what it is about; you have to ask a local, who all know.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/30/2015 7:18 Comments ||
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#2
And therefore responsible for all the deaths of WWI, Part II aka WWII, the various Bolsi revolutions sparked across the globe. "Did I do that?". Yes.
[Hurriyet Daily News] The Istanbul Governor's Office has defended its ban on the LGBTI pride march in Istanbul, amid reactions from the international community against the brutal police crackdown on marchers June 28.
The governorate banned the parade at the eleventh hour on the day of the planned march, despite the fact the event has taken place peacefully in Istanbul since 2003.
Police dispersed parade participants around the central Taksim Square using tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets before the scheduled start of the event at 5:00 p.m.
"The Governor's Office was not informed and no permission was taken for the parade, which was open to provocations. The group was warned but they continued to march. So the security forces dispersed them with their duties given by the law with proportional [force]," said a statement issued by the Istanbul Governor's Office on June 29.
The Istanbul LGBTI Pride Week Committee, a group that has organized events throughout the week, said the march had "suddenly been banned by the Istanbul Governor's Office, using the month of Ramadan as the reason," despite the fact that it also coincided with Ramadan in 2014.
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06/30/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
"Just wanted to ask them 'what are you proud of?'"
[Hurriyet Daily News] The former prime minister of Pakistain has returned a necklace donated by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's first lady, Emine Erdogan, in 2010, adhering to the federal investigation agency's (FIA) notice, Pakistain's Dunya News has reported.
Former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had been ordered to return a necklace worth an estimated 200,000 Pak rupees which had been donated by Emine Erdogan in 2010, when her husband, Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... , was still Turkey's prime minister, for flood-stricken people in Pakistain. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... the necklace was later reported to have disappeared.
On June 26, Gilani eventually returned the necklace to Pakistain's Public Records (NADRA) as he had previously pledged, while it was still unclear when it would be returned to Turkey.
Pak Interior Minister Chaurdhry Nisar Ali Khan had ordered the FIA to investigate the disappearance of the necklace, and during the probe Gilani had admitted he was holding the necklace.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
"for safekeeping"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2015 8:47 Comments ||
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[Breitbart] Chicago's 47th annual gay pride parade was disrupted several times by the usual city disruptions -- gang activity, gunshots, and drunks -- but the event was also disrupted by a car driving into a group of bystanders. Then there was an even larger interruption by "black lives matter" protesters.
Just about every Chicago parade these days features gunfire in the perimeters as gangs clash with police and drunks have probably been a parade disruption since forever. But this year a man tried to drive into the parade route, ramming his car into some bystanders -- but not hurting anyone seriously.
Police swarmed the vehicle, smashed in the rear window and yanked out the driver, a middle-aged white man, and arrested him. Chicago police have released no details on the man's identity nor his motivations for ramming the barricades for the parade.
#1
So, what about gay blacks (and don't tell me there aren't any): are they feeling fulfilled or conflicted?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/30/2015 7:22 Comments ||
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#2
It fits snugly into other areas of convenient denial Ed. Such things as urban crime statistics, prison demographics, fatherless families, tribal gerrymandering, black republicans, the OJ trial, etc.
[Iran Press TV] The US Supreme Court has ruled that the use of a controversial execution drug is constitutional when administering the death penalty.
In a 5-4 decision, the highest federal court of the United States on Monday refused to limit states' use of the sedative midazolam that opponents say has the effect of being burned alive. The activist court is reportedly quite knowledgeable regarding abortifacient pharmaceutical drugs and Obamacare as well. Experts on the living and the dead, so to speak.
The drug had played a part in three long and painful executions last year in Oklahoma, Ohio and Arizona.
"Petitioners have failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that the use of midazolam violates the Eighth Amendment," the justices wrote in the majority decision, delivered by Justice Samuel Alito.
The court's conservative majority said lethal injection remains the most humane method of execution.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2015 00:00 ||
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This is good news for ISIS; they have been using beheadings, tossing from the roof, and cage drownings.
#2
Madame Guillotine has an established record of swift and quick. No FDA requirements.
Either the state takes responsibility for justice or forfeits to power back to the people. It already happens in the hood. Neither is perfect, but obstructing the state doing it as a disinterested third party only promotes vendetta.
BTW, if you just want them to go to sleep, just follow the oft used warning about children and plastic bags. The bag fills with the exhaled CO2 causing the subject to fall asleep without panic or a struggle. The body then fails to attain the oxygen necessary for sustainment. No FDA approval needed either.
#3
What's wrong with massive overdoses of heroin? There should be plenty available free from various evidence lockers, and how could it be called 'cruel' when so many indulge in it on purpose?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
We've heard of significant shortcomings before with the fighter jet that's supposed to be America's future, but this is just as bad as it gets. The F-35 performed so dismally in a dogfight, that the test pilot remarked that the it had pretty much no place fighting other aircraft within visual range.
[Al Ahram] The 
[RFE/RL] Serbia has unveiled a monument to Gavrilo Princip, whose assassination of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince in Sarajevo helped trigger World War I. Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, still inflames controversy in the Balkans.
