NytHawk

Top pic is from here, there are plenty of LM simulator demonstrations you can find on youtube.

I rarely use VIP/VRPs in DCS, however they can be incredibly useful when trying to find targets, or if you want to coordinate attacks with friendlies. I mean even if you elect to fly on the deck, the TGP is still a useful tool if you are using any PGMs or doing CCRP shots to increase accuracy.

Not sure if any Bl.60s got Have Glass, however some entire USAF squadrons have got Have Glass on their Bl. 50s. I have heard of frontal RCS reductions of like 15-30%, which is pretty notable.

Appears so, I've tried a few AAR missions just now, and all of them have tankers immediately entering steep turns.

One of the recent updates included a major FM change for the F16, which notably gave it significantly improved low speed energy retention, and the ability to get into a deep stall. The FLCS in the viper has a ~25 degree AoA limiter, however this limiter can be exceeded in some very specific situations which can easily cause a deep stall

Just as a note, many of these weapons have yet to be integrated onto the F35, or are not officially planned to be integrated onto the real F35. Storm shadow and brimstone are officially no longer being integrated. I can't find any reference of CBU-99/100s on the F-35 other than on old diagrams like this, same with AIM-120Bs and other dumb bombs.

As the title states, as soon as you load into the Caucasus aerial refueling instant action... the KC-135 immediately executes a sharp turn. This obviously makes aerial refueling much more complicated.

Talking about F22 IRST… this just dropped.

All operational F35s are compatible with AIM-120C5s. However as you said, I also believe an F35 module will need to be a frankenblock.

There are reasons to be receiving information from wingman via MADL despite having some of your own sensor suite tracking it. You simply get additional information you can work with that you simply can't obtain by yourself. An example of this is getting passive ranging from multiple DAS or ESM sensors working together. This is especially useful when trying to track LO targets which may not be within radar range yet, or if you want to engage a target without emitting from your own FCR.

Many people don't understand that MADL isn't like link16 (Or any other A2A datalink) which only supplies target positions/vectors. Each MADL node shares every individual piece of sensor information they have on threats, can be considered a near perfect hivemind. For example, imagine a flight of 6 F35s in an A2A engagement. One aircraft decides it's necessary to prosecute a target, which means it needs a trackfile on it with quality sufficient for weapons guidance. That F35 has the combined sensor information of 6 EOTS, 6 DAS, 6 RWR, 6 ESM suites and 6 AESAs, in which its onboard computers can fuse together. Not a single other fighter platform allows for such advanced information transfer between aircraft, and the sheer amount of onboard processing of data from both onboard, and external sources.

The GBU-39 is already in DCS from memory, its just not implemented onto anything. The F35 FAQ initially mentioned it will be getting a GBU-39 before it was later edited (yesterday?)

Even if a target could completely defeat the F35s FCR (Notching/EW etc), the F35 still has at least another 4 sources filtered and processed through its information fusion architecture to maintain a stable track independently from the radar alone.

A few months back there were F22s spotted with these mysterious pods near Edwards AFB, many have speculated these to be IRST, or some form of sensor pods.

Sure, you could make a massively simplified AESA model by just massively increasing the scan rate of an MSA. However AESAs like what we see in the AN/APG-81 do more than just have a very quick scan rate, it will send beams of varying operating frequency, PRF and power in many different directions depending on what the pilot is trying to achieve, and what the information fusion software deems necessary. Eg. you have a few TRMs continually illuminating a target with a lower power output to decrease interception probability, while another few beams are being slaved to MADL or DAS tracks at a different frequency/power, while the rest of the array is purely dedicated for searching. The AN/APG-81 does utilize the doppler effect to assist tracking airborne targets, so technically you can "notch" the radar, however i am almost certain there are sophisticated algorithms which will be able to differentiate a target flying with some height over terrain from the ground clutter, just because of the sheer resolution of the AN/APG-81.

Stealthflanker (the creator of this tool) has uploaded a much newer version with some improvements, you can view and download it here for those interested. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/an-aesa-radar-range-calculator.29367/post-385925

Information is quite limited on these radars, however several studies have estimated the AN/APG-77 (The F22s radar, and predecessor to the F35s AN/APG-81) to be able to lock targets with an RCS of 1m2 at ranges exceeding well over 100 nautical miles. Obviously you should be skeptical to these claims, however over the past 15 or so years, radar technology has evolved so much, that it almost appears alien to our current mechanically scanned arrays.

To my knowledge, we don't know too much about either the F35s AESA or the EFs RWR, this is in my opinion the biggest challenge with developing the F35.

The F16/F18 radars have progressed a lot over the past year or so with the addition of new modes, false targets, detection probability etc, and phase 3 of the F16/F18 radars will include additional things like lookdown penalties etc. I think over the next 2 years, ED will be able to improve upon their modelling and technology, and make a somewhat believable AN/APG-81.

It definitely wouldn't surprise me if the real AN/APG-81s overall search/tracking performance in a SWT mode exceeds what's shown in this video, even back when this video was released in 2006. I am aware the AN/APG-81 will automatically slave a beam to targets identified by the DAS and other data inputs. Additionally there is a declassified presentation from VX-31 online claiming the AN/APG-79 can achieve up to 2800 beams/sec from circa 2008.

I'm confident ED can develop the technology required for a decent AESA model, however there will need to be a large amount of estimation regarding the F35s exact radar specifications and capabilities.

I personally don't see us getting an Israeli F15

To my knowledge, only a handful of F15Cs based in Iceland ever got CFTs

There were luneberg lenses visible in the 2025 And Beyond video, I feel like these will significantly level out the playing field assuming a scenario in which both aircraft are restricted to AIM-120s. Sure the F35 has an LPI AESA which might be almost impossible for the Eurofighters RWR to detect, and its DAS helps massively with situational awareness. However the Eurofighter is objectively kinematically superior, yes, it will be disadvantaged in terms of the radars scan time and with long range passive target detection... but i feel like a fight between both the EF2000 and the F35 in this situation would be mostly fair.

ED initially scheduled it to release by the end of 2024, which is obviously now overdue, I don't see its release being very far in the future. The Sniper XR has already made a cameo in one of wags videos recently if you weren't aware.