garrya

There is no such thing as F-15F Secondly, F-15 didn't constantly "own" F-35 at Red flag on the contrary: https://theaviationist.com/2016/06/27/f-15e-strike-eagles-unable-to-shoot-down-the-f-35s-in-8-dogfights-during-simulated-deployment/ https://theaviationist.com/2017/02/28/red-flag-confirmed-f-35-dominance-with-a-201-kill-ratio-u-s-air-force-says/ http://aviationweek.com/defense/f-35-unscathed-hostile-fire-green-flag ${1} A-10 is terrible, terrible in CAS against a competent adversary, if enemy armor formation have any sort of air defense like SA-15, Pantsir-S1 or 2K22 Tunguska or ZSU-23-4 then the GAU-8 is useless for all intend and purpose. S-300/400 also out range HARM by a significant margin, current HARMs can reach 100-150 km whereas 48N6E2 can reach 190 km, 9M83ME can reach 200 km, 40N6 can reach 400 km. Furthermore, S-300/400 can have 4 missiles per TEL, and one battery have several TEL Furthermore, F-35 benefit far more from support asset than A-10 can ever hope to

That too bad

No need to buy anything, you can download here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/3krzacmc49cq4fo/F-14A+BD+PERF.pdf

There are many photos of F-35 vortex

Presentation by Zoltán Dani himself (with English subtitles) This probably been discussed to death already, but i only have the chance to see this video recently because someone post it in F-16.net, anyway, there are many surprises and interesting facts that most seem to forget when they talk about the events. The last bit is particularly interesting when we know P-18 can detect a target with RCS =2.5m2 from very long range: 110 km if target cruises at altitude = 3 km and 250 km if target cruises at altitude = 10 km ( According to Zoltán, F-117 was cruising at altitude = 6 km) Rough extrapolate from the table With radar height = 6.35 meters, P-18 will detect targets with RCS= 2.5 m2, cruising at 6km altitude from 132.5 km, reduce RCS by 10 times and we get 44% detection range reduction => F-117 RCS is smaller than 0.025m2 at frequencies >140 Mhz. With radar height = 10.35 meters, P-18 will detect targets with RCS= 2.5 m2, cruising at 6km altitude from 180 km, reduce RCS by 10 times and we get 44% detection range reduction => F-117 RCS is smaller than 0.0025m2 at frequencies >140 Mhz. This is surprisingly small.

Low frequency aren't as effective as one would think. Here is radar scattering measurement of F-117 metallic model in an anechoic chamber in Deutsche Aerospace at frequency 0.1-2 Ghz and some fun fact about the downed F-117 https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=218358

That was not what they said though, actually since the incident months ago, i don't recall reading anything about LM transport F-35 back from Israel to USA to repair

But that the point. No sane person will look at the second picture and think: "Let just put some paint on that, i wonder if that may work". The damage clearly very minor, mostly on the coating if they think about using an evaporator to fix.

i don't really see how the first part confirmed by IDF, it clearly 2 different paragraphs. It doesn't make sense if the confirmation related to the previous paragraph if the sentence right next to the confirmation literally contradict the previous paragraph.

That is two separate paragraphs: the first one is the introduction or you can also call it the click bait of the article. An example would be the kind of title like " F-35 collided with birds, what happens next will surprise you" The second paragraph is the actual story :where airforce express the concern that they don't know F-35 will still be as stealthy because the coating was damaged due to collision with birds

I focused on the sentence inside the quotation marks. Because it is the direct quote from IDF. Others parts are simply author's opinion just like your or mine. The other indirect quote also showed that visibly the damage is cosmetic in the stealth paint as they planned to use the evaporator to fix it. If there was visible structure damage, no one will think about using an evaporator to fix that. I don't think they worried whether the F-35 will fly again. They are worried whether the F-35 will retain its stealth capabilities according to the quote, that makes sense because the damaged coating can increase its RCS.

It came from IDF office whereas the doubt that the aircraft will ever fly again came from Southfront which is the middle east equivalent of Sputnik. The IDF Spokesperson's Office stated: "These allegations are incorrect. In preparation for a routine landing of the F-35, two injuries were found in the fuselage following a collision with the birds. The plane made a normal landing at the base and was sent to the usual maintenance treatment following such injuries. The plane will be used and will return for flight in the coming days. " http://www.kan.org.il/item/?itemId=23623 I highly doubt that they can see the kind of damage that can be fixed in few days. Moreover they most likely put the airplane right into garage after it land so the window of opportunity is very small. TBH, Israel able to keep the "Pere tank" classified for over 30 years eventhough that thing fighting on the frontline , i don't think they need to release a half-ass cover story if they wanted to keep the damaged F-35 a secret.

Now for something closer to reality: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/new-long-range-missile-project-emerges-in-us-budget-442816/

Still doesn't make a lot of sense. I don't think there will be many members of public living near Israel secret air base. Moreover since they said the aircraft need only few days until it will fly again, that means the exterior damage is extremely minimal, most likely slightly damaged to coating( otherwise it will take you months) , i don't think someone photographed the aircraft from long distance will even able to tell that the airplane was damaged. So they allegedly call up a new channel to release a damage control story only a few hours later seem illogical to me. Others facts also make that story less believable such as F-35I haven't even reach IOC, Israel only have several of them at the moment, Southfront also made up the part about "F-35 can't fly again " to make their conspiracy theory sounds more catchy... etc. With that being said, sometimes magical things can happen, but i wouldn't bet on it. For me this has the same chance of happening as the earlier rumor about Israel destroyed S-300 site Yes. After the alleged attack towards Israel squadron. But that is editor choice, start rumors can help drive traffic towards your website.

It isn't even coincident though, given that the bird strike happened at 2 weeks earlier.

But then it wouldn't be a direct hit. Moreover, the SAM operator can see the airplane on screen (since we assumed that he can detect and launch missiles at it). It would make very little sense if the dot still there and moving normally after the direct hit. This is the S-200 rather than a MANPARD If they can allegedly hide F-35 damaged significantly by SAM while telling others about it then it would be much easier to hide the very same aircraft without telling aanyon the bird strike evidence. Which obviously draw a lot of attention. There are dozens better excuses they could have used if that was the case. Nevermind that the story originated from Southfront, which isn't a credible source either.

If they don't have to command the missiles to explode then it can be considered a direct hit. With RAM, the radio proximity will need to be even closer to the aircraft to denote, and iam sure they can track something as big as S-200 on radar. Likely F-16I or F-15I as that still the backbone of Israel air force with well-trained pilots for them. By contrast, they currently have only 5 F-35 that will reach IOC next December If they want to hide then why bothered to publish the bird strike incident?. Make more sense to hide everything together.

I meant according to Syrian version of the story: the missile scored a direct hit. That doesn't make any sense because a direct hit would have vaporized that aircraft

The F-35 was actually damaged 2 weeks earlier. According to Syrian Defense Forces side of the story, the missile score a direct hit, if that was the case the aircraft would have vaporized because S-200 has 200 kg warhead. I don't think even a tank can take that nevermind fragile aircraft The aircraft fly a few day later, TBH bird strike can result in quite devastating damage

It does talk about rcs requirements It would be quite naive to think LM is the only one that can bribe and AFAIK Lockheed Martin has the biggest list of customers for their 5gens

Not totally related but it kinda shows that F-35 stealth is very good Indian Air Force wants out of fighter program with Russia https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/10/20/indian-air-force-wants-out-of-fighter-program-with-russia/

I don't think RT is in position to call others publisher tabloid when they are a tabloid themselves.

Just put more information in one post.

Hmmm i will see about that. I just cut it from the manual, didn't realize a bigger version is available

Actually, I thought the steep of the lift curve was the same between Mach 0.9-1.2 and Mach 0.5-0.7 when i first re read the thread and looking at the chart, hence the assumption that max AoA increase when wing fold back. Only when he put number in that i realized the Clmax reduce Actually, he did talk about the effects of locked flap and leading edge when wing fold back. But no prob, i will add these charts as well just in case information are missing.