The F-35s substantial but somewhat less-than-next-gen stealth capability will keep it invisible for a much longer time, giving it an immense advantage (just one second's advantage makes all the difference in a battle, ask any pilot). Also, the ECM suits being installed in F-35s and F-22s are unfathomably modern. They will be able incapacitate the air defence systems adequately for the bombers to blow them to pieces. But, I agree, air defence is the biggest threat facing an airplane in hostile territory, and that air defences will catch up to the new gen aircrafts much sooner than previous gen aircrafts.
I disagree mainly because the shaping of the F-35 makes clear its stealth is limited. The original design was much stealthier, but they made many compromises to fulfill the other requirements.
Low frequency radar will detect it, although probably won't be able to provide enough resolution to fire a missile at it (though that is being worked on at the moment). However everyone will know its there.
Only the front and rear aspect of the F-35 offer useful stealth against high-frequency engagement radars, so if it gets painted on either of its flanks it will be targettable by radar. The only real question will be how effective its ECM package is. That information is classified and as far as I know nobody really has any idea at this point.
Many tradeoff studies were done by the USAF before they decided not to upgrade existing aircraft to do the jobs the F-22 and F-35 will. Primarily, it was feared that current gen planes would be matched/surpassed by Russian technology by the end of the 20th centure (which they did with the Su-27), compromising their qualitative edge over the Soviets/Russians. There were numerous other reasons as well for not upgrading their current fleet and choosing to go for new technologies. I suggest you rush to your local library and read about the Joint Strike Fighter and Advanced Tactical Fighter programs (no insult intended here), there are some very good books on them.
I have read quite a bit about the programmes, but what matters today is what the programme evolved to. I'm not particularly happy that Canada will be buying the JSF, but we are really only operating against Russian bombers as far as forseeable air defence threats go so in the end it's not a huge deal. Still though, we would be better off with something like the Gripen which offers substantial upgrades to our CF-18s while having a very low total cost of ownership.
I argued the same thing in my previous post. The program may have become slightly disappointing, but that does not make the plane any less incredible. What people, especially non-engineers, need to understand is that, even though the article depends heavily on the program, a fault in the program does not equal a fault in the article of engineering.
No this is true. But I sort of take issue with both. At least if the price was closer to the original price I wouldn't feel like Canada is being ripped off for being a part of the JSF program.
No. 4 next-gen AMRAAMS with substantial stealth means 4 aircrafts shot down before the F-35 is even visible on the radar. And if, somehow, the F-35s position is known, it is still capable of shooting down or disabling any aircraft because it offers superior avionics and weapons integration, great radar technology, unparalleled ECM suits etc. In short, if you're caught in a fight between an F-35 and another aircraft, you better be in the F-35. It is a pilots dream fighter. And unbelievably, despite all of this, it is a multi-role aircraft, not an air superiority fighter.
Well the newer generations of the AMRAAM have not be used operationally, but the older generations have. They were used against medium-tech (at best) opponents and its PK is something like 50% against them. The stated PK was 90%. I have never seen an AAM live up to manufacturer stated PK and the AMRAAM is no exception.
ECM and ECCM capability typically leapfrogs one another, so it's hard to say what will happen, but history does not support the idea that one shot will equal one kill in BVR.
F-22's purpose is not ground attack. It is an air dominance fighter (though it can most assuredly perform multi-role functions). What you are suggesting will be done by the F-35, and done well.
I understand that the F-22 is intended as an air superiority fighter. But I guarantee the F-22 will be used in a SEAD role against a modern IADS because the JSF can't do it much better than 4th gen fighters. The B2 and F-22 are the only true stealth aircraft the US will have.
Finally, when the F-16 first came out, it had many critics. Its too small, too weak, has too few capabilites, they said. It is unnecessarily hi-tech (FBW, HUD etc) and therefore, unnecessarily expensive, they said. But, today only a fool will doubt the F-16s potential one tiny bit. The F-35 will establish a similar legacy in the next generation.
That remains to be seen. But the F-16 exceeding expectations does not mean the JSF will. For every F-16 I can give you a dozen aircraft designs that utterly failed to meet expectations.