Australia will never achieve regional air superiority with the new Lockheed F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter and should instead look to the US F-22 Raptor, a former RAAF officer says.
Retired Wing Commander Chris Mills said the F-35 was never designed to achieve air superiority and was outclassed by advanced new Russian aircraft entering service in regional air forces.
In a submission to a Greens-instigated Senate inquiry examining acquisition of the F-35, he said the F-22, now in service with the US Air Force, was designed to dominate the skies.
Production of the F-22 ended in 2011 and in any case US law specifically bans exports.
Mr Mills said the answer to providing Australia and other western countries with a superior future air combat capability was to bring the F-22 back into production.
“To those who say it can’t be done, my answer is that USAF has kept all the production tooling with capacity for several hundred new aircraft to be built,” he said.
Aeronautical engineer Danny Nowlan said advances in radar technology would soon erode the F-35’s stealth capability while the aircraft’s basic design was fundamentally broken and couldn’t be fixed.
“The alternative to the F-35 is to restart F-22 Raptor production and for the US Congress to release it for export,” he said.
“When it comes to modern fighters the F-22 Raptor is the platinum standard.” Australia plans to acquire 72 F-35 aircraft and maybe as many as 100. So far just two have been delivered.
The RAAF plans to have its first two F-35 squadrons ready for operations in 2020.
Development of this advanced stealth aircraft has been beset by delays, technical problems and cost increases.
JSF was chosen for the RAAF because of its ability to perform a number of different roles, including bombing missions.
Another former RAAF officer, retired Wing Commander Anthony Wilkinson, a former F-111 navigator, said JSF’s range was too short and its bombload too small for it to be a proper strike aircraft. “I would argue that defence planners have lost the plot,” he said in his submission.
(The Australian)
Bro Dadang, silahkan di baca ya. 'Aeronautical engineer Danny Nowlan said advances in radar technology would soon erode the F-35’s stealth capability while the aircraft’s basic design was fundamentally broken and couldn’t be fixed.' so satu-satunya jalan adalah pakai F22 which is imposible. satu-satunya cara bagi kita untuk mendapatkan air superiority ya dengan menggunakan Flanker family dan untuk sementara (SEMENTARA) kita memang harus mengandalkan f16 dan kemudian akan digantikan IFX sebagai tulang punggung pertahanan udara kita. kalau mau lawan F35 kita akan serahkan pekerjaan tersebut ke Su35 sebagai air superiority fighter dan f16/IFX untuk melakukan pekerjaan lainnya.
BalasHapusYa pada dasarnya F35 memang project yg sudah terlalu mahal utk di batalkan. Kemampuan radar yg terus meningkat pada akhirnya menghapus kelebihan stealth. Sama seperti kasus F117,yg akhirnya bisa shotdown. SU35 adalah satu2nya pesaing F22/ F35 yg di buat di luar negara anggota NATO.
BalasHapusGak lah, walaupun dibilang kemampuan AD radar selalu meningkat dan meningkatkan awareness capability usernya pengembangan attack platform itu biasanya selalu membuat perhitungan tiga langkah di depan. F35 itu fighter yg sejak awal dirancang utk tifak menggunakan feature stealth seekstensive F22, utk menghemat maintenance cost dan biaya akuisisi awal. Yg jadi kelebihannya adalah networking capabilitynya, electronic warfarenya sampai stand off weapons yg bisa dia bawa.
BalasHapusSoal banyak tudingan miring ini pesawat cacat dan blabla lainnya, tunggu aja baptism of firenya nanti gimana. F16 dulu jg banyak dituding cacat dll, tp pertempuran di lembah beeka ngubah semua persepsi miring itu. Satu lg, Israel itu bukan initial countries yg terlibat JSF, tp mereka akhirnya tertarik utk akuisisi JSF dan Israel jarang sekali membuat kesalahan saat mengakuisisi platform alutsista utamanya.
Kalau dari saya F35 ini seperti F4 phantom. No more dogfight they said, yet they got their ass kick in Vietnam. No need for gun they said, yet their pilot always prey if the phantom got a gun. No need to looking at your six they said, ups! BIG mistake. Kalau f16 kita ada tanda2 di lock on by F35, Run. Sama seperti strategi saat F4 bertemu dengan Mig21. Run, fight for another day. Kalau ada tanda2 F35, let super flanker find them. Fight smart lah. Klo da F22 run again :))
HapusHmm F4 itu termasuk pesawat sukses lho di jamannya. Kategori suksesnya diliat drmana?
Hapus1. Dia punya catatan tempur yg cukup baik. Jumlah kekalahannya di Vietnam jauh lebih kecil dibanding damage yg dia buat
2. Versatile platform, yg bisa mainkan banyak peran
3. Punya lasting legacy, pesawat gagal gak bakal dikenang. Cek aja yg modelnya kek F104 dan semacamnya, paling dikit orang yg inget
F35 itu punya kemampuan networking yg handal. Bisa melakukan assessment thd yg terjadi di lapangan dalam spektrum yg luas dan melakukannya secara real times. US akan pairing mereka dgn F22 atau F15. Negara sekutu mereka akan melakukan hal 11-12. Bisa F35 dgn F2000 atau dgn Super hornets dan growler.
Kalau menurut saya F4 bukanlah pesawat sukses. Coba lihat berapa pesawat F4 yang kalah di Vietnam? Bandingkan dengan armada Vietnam saat itu.
HapusWell we have to agree to disagree then
HapusWkwkwk.. seru amaaat.. intinya kl buat gw sih segala kelebihan networking tsb mungkin bakal lumpuh di medan yg heavy electronicly jammed, pada akhirnya setiap unit F35, F15, F22 harus bergerak sendiri2, krn kelebihan networking jd tsb jd ga berguna. Not to say F35 banyak cacat juga sih, krn F16 yg banyak cacat pada awalnya pun malah sukses.
HapusOk Bro Dwi. Lets agree on that.
HapusKetawa aja lw Bei :p
Kesempatan US buat ngelumpuhin sistem elektronik lawannya lebih besar IMHo ketimbang vice versa. Mereka udah investasi di bidang ini sekian puluh tahun lamanya. Jauh lebih awal drpada China dan Soviet dulu.
BalasHapusItulah sebabnya saya memakai kata "mungkin".
Hapusbetul bro saya sangat setuju serahkan pekerjaan tersebut ke Su35 sebagai air superiority fighter dan f16 untuk membajak sawah dan sebagai peti mati terbang
BalasHapus