Newer F35 Waxed by F16 in Dogfight

Covert Rain

Father smelt of elderberries!
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Posts
36,507
Reaction score
15,594
Location
Arizona
So evidently in tests the newer F35 got beat pretty handily by the 40 year old F16 in close combat maneuvers. To add insult to injury the F16's were even flying with the under wing tanks still mounted which should have created a huge disadvantage. The F35 was slower and more sluggish and was unable outmaneuver the F16.

I don't know if that is a testament to the excellent design of the F16 or the poor design of the F35. Either way that is not good.

http://arstechnica.com/information-...ort-in-test-dogfight-f-35-gets-waxed-by-f-16/
 
OP
OP
Covert Rain

Covert Rain

Father smelt of elderberries!
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Posts
36,507
Reaction score
15,594
Location
Arizona
I found this which is really interesting interview about the F35. He not only claims that the plane is a turkey but he says that stealth is a complete scam and that modern day radar can detect stealth airplanes. This video was from a year or so ago. He took some heat about not being accurate about the capabilities of the modern fighter. Now after the above? He might not have been so wrong.

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Bert

Walkin' on Sunshine
LEGACY MEMBER
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Posts
10,139
Reaction score
3,234
Location
Arizona
If you read further into that the original report is called into question because they didn't release the whole report, just the negatives ofcourse because that's what you do when you're trying to get a story to go viral.

Then the Airforce and manufacturer said they were pretty much specifically testing the weapons systems and other stuff and it wasn't even truly a dogfight test. They also said that's why it's called TESTING and they are still tweaking the limits of the plane. The cool part of this plane is the guy who helped design it saying; "it's never going to get into a dogfight anyways it's designed to be invisible and destroy it's target before it ever knows he's there.

The days of WWII Dogfights are long gone my friends. I'm pretty sure that in a real combat situation with all of the bells and whistles engaged and the kinks ironed out, this plane would hold it's own just on the massive technology advances available to the pilot.

Either way once you read this article, and the retort, you see that the title of this article that says it got "waxed" is misleading and incorrect.

Again, it may very well have its issues but this article isn't exactly rock solid information.

I'm just waiting for this to be Obamas fault. lol
 

Southpaw

Provocateur aka Wallyburger
Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2003
Posts
39,818
Reaction score
3,410
Location
The urban swamp
So evidently in tests the newer F35 got beat pretty handily by the 40 year old F16 in close combat maneuvers. To add insult to injury the F16's were even flying with the under wing tanks still mounted which should have created a huge disadvantage. The F35 was slower and more sluggish and was unable outmaneuver the F16.

I don't know if that is a testament to the excellent design of the F16 or the poor design of the F35. Either way that is not good.

http://arstechnica.com/information-...ort-in-test-dogfight-f-35-gets-waxed-by-f-16/

Blasphemy, I say. How dare you impugn the integrity of the M I C. :eek:
 
OP
OP
Covert Rain

Covert Rain

Father smelt of elderberries!
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Posts
36,507
Reaction score
15,594
Location
Arizona
Now another story about the problems with the F35. This time it's long distance problems. Sort of goes back to what the original guy criticizing the fighter said in the video. They tried to make it the be all end all fighter and it's struggling in all aspects based on multiple reports. Sort of "Jack of trades but master of none" syndrome.

In addition, it appears not only to be less maneuverable than the F16 but now slower than Russian and Chinese rival equivalents.

http://www.businessinsider.com/f-35-cant-fight-at-long-range-2015-7
 
Last edited:

Phrazbit

ASFN Icon
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Posts
20,308
Reaction score
11,382
And all this after they dramatically scaled back the F22 production, which is the most dominant fighter in the world.
 

Latest posts

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
553,573
Posts
5,408,485
Members
6,319
Latest member
route66
Top