Article

2014-10-20 Science & Technology

Did China Just Render America's $1 Trillion Stealth Fighter Program Obsolete?

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by gorb 2014-10-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 Big nothing in this article. No one can put a long wave radar on a fighter and they aren't really that good anyway. The radars in the planes in the air are what matter, and in this regime the F-35 will be competitive for a long time.

Posted by rammer 2014-10-20 00:33|| 2014-10-20 00:33|| Front Page Top

#2 Going back to the 117 shoot down; what isn't widely known is that the USAF flew the same routes at the same time, speed and altitude. Made the targeting solution much easier to figure out and put a couple of ground based observers in the upstream portion of the flight path, they knew exactly when the Nighthawk was going over....

Posted by USN, Ret. 2014-10-20 00:48|| 2014-10-20 00:48|| Front Page Top

#3 So it is a variation on the HARM missile. Flying a missile up the radar beam of a targeting radar?

Interesting.

Posted by Call Me Mystic 2014-10-20 01:39|| 2014-10-20 01:39|| Front Page Top

#4 I seem to recall the Navy cancelling the A12 Avenger program over basically the same concerns.
What we have here is another F111 coming to ripeness.

Posted by ed in texas 2014-10-20 07:56|| 2014-10-20 07:56|| Front Page Top

#5 Man this article is full of crap....

All the "noisy" systems are turned off before entering a war zone. That means no IFF, no radar, no running lights... nothing. The only things active are the radar detection system (passive), the GPS system (passive only receives signals) and the radio which they don't use over the combat zone.

Posted by DarthVader 2014-10-20 10:16|| 2014-10-20 10:16|| Front Page Top

#6 Someone here say Aardvark?

Posted by Shipman 2014-10-20 10:18|| 2014-10-20 10:18|| Front Page Top

#7 If they were smart, they'd hook up an air turbulence detector to their blimps and "see" them that way. Now, was that hard!?!

Posted by AlmostAnonuymous5839 2014-10-20 11:37|| 2014-10-20 11:37|| Front Page Top

#8 Re: ed in Texas: The Dorito ( aka A12) as cancelled by then SecDef Cheney because he didn't want me to have a post-navy cushy retirement job. Seriously, there were huge weight overages as well as cost overruns. There is a fine book out : "The $5 Billion Misunderstanding" that goes into really good detail why the bird was cancelled. having lived through the last 2 years of its life ( not counting the litigation) I can say that it would have ben a really good aircraft except for all the gold plating the Navy put on it to please the Air Force. (It even had a bomb bay mounted tanker package for Lawn Dart support......)
So after that bird got the ax, the Navy decided to can the Intruder and Tomcat (Cheney was an A-6 BN) in favor of the F-18.(Cheney payback? or Light Attack Mafia at work?)

Posted by USN, Ret. 2014-10-20 14:55|| 2014-10-20 14:55|| Front Page Top

#9 Can someone explain the red camouflage? Wouldn't that be easily seen?

Posted by Flaviter Munster2082 2014-10-20 18:57|| 2014-10-20 18:57|| Front Page Top

#10 Is that a paintball fighter?

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2014-10-20 21:26|| 2014-10-20 21:26|| Front Page Top

#11 Can someone explain the red camouflage? Wouldn't that be easily seen?
In WWII (pictures exist of a pink P-38 and Pink P-51)and even as late as Tacit Blue (the F117 prototype) the experimenting with colors included a lot of pastels and even pinks. But since no macho-Ascot wearing Air Forcian would be seen wearing a pink scarf, it was also decided to look for colors that would break up visual recognition in the non-girly spectrum; thus we now see blues, and grays, and various tans for desert. I suspect at altitude the reddish hues would be hard to spot. Notice they are flat and not glossy; so there is less visual glint/reflection to catch your eye.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2014-10-20 22:25|| 2014-10-20 22:25|| Front Page Top

23:47 Call Me Mystic
23:43 Call Me Mystic
23:33 Call Me Mystic
23:31 Call Me Mystic
23:25 Call Me Mystic
23:23 JosephMendiola
23:14 JosephMendiola
23:06 JosephMendiola
23:04 JosephMendiola
22:55 JosephMendiola
22:25 USN, Ret.
22:13 Anguper Hupomosing9418
22:06 JohnQC
21:58 Bright Pebbles
21:34 JosephMendiola
21:30 JosephMendiola
21:26 Bright Pebbles
21:10 Steve White
20:55 Steve White
20:26 Alaska Paul
20:22 phil_b
19:48 Guillibaldo Elmurong9506
19:44 Ebbomosh Hupemp2664
19:36 Procopius2k