Australia Also Interested in Hybrid Lightning-Raptor Fighter

17 September 2018

F-35 and F-22 fighter (The Aviation Greek)

Hybrid Lightning-Raptor fighter worth a look, defence analyst says

Plans to develop a hybrid fighter plane combining the “brain” of the F-35 Lightning with the highly manoeuverable airframe of the US Air Force’s F-22 Raptor should be watched closely, says a leading Australian defence ­analyst.

Concerns have been raised about the ability of the fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter to provide air superiority when confronting a new range of Russian jets being ­acquired by China.

This has prompted a call for Australia to join Japan in looking at buying a hybrid aircraft being proposed by the planes’ manufacturer Lockheed Martin and involving the futuristic avionics of the F-35 being worked into the US Air Force’s F-22 Raptor.

Malcolm Davis, a former ­assistant director for the Defence Department in strategic policy guidance, cautioned about any moves to seek to buy a hybrid but said it was “worth watching”.

He did not support all the criticism of the F-35 but acknowledged it had taken so long to develop that adversaries had time to develop counter-measures.

RAAF F-35A Lightning II (photo : ADBR)

“While it (the F-35) will maintain an acceptable level of performance until about 10 to 15 years into the lifetime of the aircraft, we may then face a situation where it’s not providing that solid degree of technical edge that we need,’’ said Dr Davis, a senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute specialising in ­defence and security issues.

However, he stopped short of recommending Australia immediately try to buy the new plane. “We should be open to other solutions, both manned and unmanned,” he said, noting that the US was developing other programs involving unmanned aircraft that were equally interesting.

Yesterday, business journalist Robert Gottliebsen stepped up his attack on the F-35, saying it was unreliable and would fail under attack as it did not deliver air superiority over Chinese aircraft, which could fly higher and faster.

However Dr Davis questioned Gottliebsen’s view of how the F-35 would be outclassed in air combat, saying it was “simplistic”. “What they are saying that technically the Su-35 has super speed and height advantage but what he’s ignoring is the F-35’s stealth capability and secondly it’s data integration and offboard sensors.”

In April defence sources told Reuters that Lockheed Martin had approached Japan offering to build a stealth fighter hybrid of the two aircraft.

Defence Minister Christopher Pyne has rejected criticism of the F-35, saying critics do not have access to all the information available to the government.

(The Australian)