F-35 Lightning II
During the Red Flag exercise, the Air Force (Air Force) of the United States, the Royal Air Force of Great Britain and the Royal Australian Air Force broke the air defense network of a potential enemy, writes Popular Mechanics in an article on the creation of the F-35 Lightning aircraft II.
According to the publication of the American magazine, fourth-generation fighters F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-15 Eagle and Typhoon took part in the exercises, the actions of which were coordinated by the E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) combat control and targeting aircraft. F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighters of the fifth generation were used as covert escort.
The publication, describing the exercises, writes that “enemy fighters in the livery of the Russian Su-30 began to approach.” “The F-35 ultimately won, breaking one of the most advanced air defense networks in the world and transmitting data to missile-equipped fighters such as the F-16,” Popular Mechanics said.
The publication argues that the main advantage of the F-35 Lightning II is computing power, not speed or missile armament. “There has never been an aircraft that would provide such situational awareness as the F-35,” – quotes the publication of the words of instructor pilot Justin Lee.
Popular Mechanics reminds that the main problems of the F-35 Lightning II are related to the high cost of the fighter and its software. On the other hand, the magazine notes that the aircraft “will serve as a test bed for technologies that will become commonplace in next-generation aircraft.”
In January, the F-35 Lightning II was reported to the Hush-Kit by its anonymous pilot. According to him, the cockpit of a fighter with a helmet-mounted display, touch screens and voice recognition is a technological miracle, but some of these declared capabilities do not work in practice.
In January, the acting US Secretary of Defense (November 9, 2020 to January 20, 2021) Christopher Miller, during a press conference, called the F-35 Lightning II program a piece of crap.
