Why The F-35 Is The Wrong Choice for Canada – Part 3

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http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2014/02/21/why-the-f-35-is-the-wrong-choice-for-canada-part-3/



Why The F-35 Is The Wrong Choice for Canada – Part 3
February 21, 2014. 1:32 am

By Kyle Meema
Defence Watch Guest Writer

Limitations of Stealth:

However, even its stealth advantage is highly questionable and would likely offer little advantage. Stealth offers reduced detection, not invisibility. Even the F-22, an air-to-air fighter so superior to the F-35 that it defies comparison, has been shot down in exercises by non-stealthy aircraft, such as the Typhoon, Rafale, and F-18G “Growler” Electronic Warfare fighter. The F-117 Nighthawk was shot down over Serbia by a Soviet era SAM system as its stealth did not hide it from RADAR scanning in longer wavelengths. The F-35 itself is not even particularly stealthy by stealth standards, receiving a Low Observable designation instead of the Very Low Observable Designation of its superior cousin , the F-22.

The F-35′s limited stealth is further compromised by advances in detection technology. Infrared and RADAR detection is advancing all the time. In particular, the F-35, as with most stealth aircraft, are designed to be stealthy in X-band RADAR. However, as the Serbians discovered, stealth aircraft are much more easily detected when scanning in other wavelengths. Russia has already integrated this into the T-50, which comes equipped with L-band and X-band radar.

Thus, the F-35′s already questionable stealth advantage is constantly being eroded. As stealth becomes more common, so too will the advances in counter-stealth detection systems specifically designed to hunt them down, such as SMART-L Radar. The F-35 is also incredibly loud, much more so than the F-15. This sharp increase in noise makes the F-35 more susceptible to detection through auditory means. To make matters worse, passive radar threatens to render stealth aircraft entirely obsolete.

Sensors and Data Fusion:

Like altitude, the F-35′s specs are impressive in terms of sensors and data fusion. With Active-Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, helmet mounted display Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOST), and Distributed Aperture System (DAS). However, there are two large caveats that come with this impressive sensor suite. The first is that it assumes that this sensor suite works probably.