Summary:

F-35 recently reached IOC combat-ready status in USAF at Hill AFB according to USAF after 15 years of development and testing.

Negative statements have been made in the US and Russian press about the F-35 by people who are generally far from specialists in aerospace.

People should remember that the F-35 is the 2nd 5th Generation fighter in the US, after the F-22, 3rd fighter with Low Observability to RADAR (implying extensive experience from US MIC in making LO aircraft:  F-117A, F-22A, F-35A/B/C).

The Russian assessment is that the F-35 has the potential to be as successful as the F-16 in terms of technical and tactical capabilities relative to this generation, as well as numbers in production and sales.

The F-16 was one of the best fighters in its category, and likelihood the F-35 will repeat this model of success is very high.

Much of the analysis is a guessing game because of the level of secrecy involved in the F-35's capabilities, which are still unknown in many respects, but they still say there is a high degree of success to be expected from the F-35 based on what they have seen.

For starters, the noticed the US invested as much effort into the software as the hardware, which is not traditional, and they don't even know which received more, they suspect software.

They find the debate about the hardware (structure of the A/C, shaping, engine, wings, aerodynamics, etc.) to be something that people debate on, whereas the software is what really got their attention, that the software aspect is now close to perfection, with very promising capabilities.

As a result, the plane should be looked at more as a link in these capabilities in complicated operative systems, not as an individual airplane.

They expect to see the technical and tactical capabilities manifest when the F-35 operates in net-centric warfare.

They extrapolate this to the FMS market, where allies will find surprises they didn't know about with regard to capabilities, and that the US can also turn off capabilities for allies that misbehave, reducing the F-35 to a 4th Gen or 3rd Gen plane (their words).

One should not baselessly criticize this plane, and many specialists in the Russian defense industry share the opinion that it will go on to have great success.

Only the US and Russia use the term "5th Gen", whereas Europeans don't.

5th Gen characteristics include:

* Radiolocation and Infrared detection Low Observability

* Multifunctionality in destroying air, ground, and over-water targets

* 360° Information Systems (very characteristic of the F-35), where the pilot receives information from E-3, E-8 ("which we do not have"), and ground centers.  "As a matter of fact, pilot of this plane master the situation in hundreds of kilometers radius.  He is very informed."

"Advanced software and programming helps in this.  And this is very important, because in the end, this rule that exists in air combat from the times of WWI:  'Who saw first-Won'...In this plane, it is implemented at full capacity."

* Supersonic flight without afterburner (super cruise)

* Supermaneuverability

* Automated control systems (DFLCS and FADEC)

Skepticism from them begins with looking at the power of the radars of Gen 5 aircraft and the electronic signatures with watts and megawatts, "lighting up like a Christmas tree", as well as how to launch missiles from internal bays at supersonic speeds-what will happen to the bay doors?

Supermaneuverability makes a great impression on those, "especially of school age, but it is debatable on how applicable it is to air combat, since whoever sees first, wins."

"They extrapolate this to the FMS market, where allies will find surprises they didn't know about with regard to capabilities, and that the US can also turn off capabilities for allies that misbehave, reducing the F-35 to a 4th Gen or 3rd Gen plane (their words)."

And people wonder why the USAF did not buy a French built A330 based air tanker?

Towards the end of the interview, the guy talks about how they select engineering professionals already from the 9th grade in school.

That stuck out to me more than anything else, followed by their acknowledgement that the F-35 is a system of systems with more emphasis on software than hardware, which got their attention.

Interesting to note that they lament going with a 2 engine design for the Lightweight Multirole Fighter response to the US F-16 and F/A-18 series with the MiG-29, as the MiG-29 costs ended up being close to the Su-27, with far less capabilities (combat range, stores, avionics).

All the new designs for a 5th Gen Russian lightweight bird show a single engine like the F-35, while in the interview, they criticize the Chinese FC-31 LW 5th Gen fighter for using 2 MiG-29 engines.






Chinese FC-31:

2nd Prototype on left, first on the right.  Notice that they are following the F-22's planform basically, even with the prototype vs 2nd evolution with the angles on the stabs and wingtips.