I'm sure most have now seen this. More details on the F-35 kinematic performance:
F-35 Tests Proceed, Revealing F/A-18-Like Performance - Defense News
"Operational pilots should be thrilled with the F-35's performance, Kelly said. The F-35 Energy-Management diagrams, which display an aircraft's energy and maneuvering performance within its airspeed range and for different load factors, are similar to the F/A-18 but the F-35 offers better acceleration at certain points of the flight envelope.
The E-M diagrams are very similar between the F-35B, F-35C and the F/A-18. There are some subtle differences in maximum turn rates and some slight differences in where corner airspeeds are exactly."
And previously from John Beesley:
New Fighter Jet: Controversial Future of the U.S. Fleet | LiveScience
"In the subsonic flight regime, the F-35 very nearly matches the performance of its' larger, more powerful cousin, the F-22 Raptor, Beesley explained. The "subsonic acceleration is about as good as a clean Block 50 F-16 or a Raptor- which is about as good as you can get."
"What Beesley expects will surprise future F-35 pilots is the jets' superb low speed handling characteristics and post-stall manoeuvrability."
Since the F-35 has primarily been put through its paces at lower speeds we don't yet know the details of the high speed regime. Let's assume for the sake of argument that it meets its design goal of "meets or exceeds the F-16". If that is the case, we are looking at an aircraft with the high speed turning performance of an F-16 (or better), the low-speed, nose pointing ability of an F-18 (or better), acceleration better than both, carrying internal weapons, with 5th Gen avionics and VLO, carrying AIM-120D and AIM-9X. That sounds like a very potent BVR and WVR aircraft. As a US taxpayer, these reports sounds very promising. I would think that any Air Force would be happy to have such an aircraft. Now if only they can keep the price down....
F-35 Tests Proceed, Revealing F/A-18-Like Performance - Defense News
"Operational pilots should be thrilled with the F-35's performance, Kelly said. The F-35 Energy-Management diagrams, which display an aircraft's energy and maneuvering performance within its airspeed range and for different load factors, are similar to the F/A-18 but the F-35 offers better acceleration at certain points of the flight envelope.
The E-M diagrams are very similar between the F-35B, F-35C and the F/A-18. There are some subtle differences in maximum turn rates and some slight differences in where corner airspeeds are exactly."
And previously from John Beesley:
New Fighter Jet: Controversial Future of the U.S. Fleet | LiveScience
"In the subsonic flight regime, the F-35 very nearly matches the performance of its' larger, more powerful cousin, the F-22 Raptor, Beesley explained. The "subsonic acceleration is about as good as a clean Block 50 F-16 or a Raptor- which is about as good as you can get."
"What Beesley expects will surprise future F-35 pilots is the jets' superb low speed handling characteristics and post-stall manoeuvrability."
Since the F-35 has primarily been put through its paces at lower speeds we don't yet know the details of the high speed regime. Let's assume for the sake of argument that it meets its design goal of "meets or exceeds the F-16". If that is the case, we are looking at an aircraft with the high speed turning performance of an F-16 (or better), the low-speed, nose pointing ability of an F-18 (or better), acceleration better than both, carrying internal weapons, with 5th Gen avionics and VLO, carrying AIM-120D and AIM-9X. That sounds like a very potent BVR and WVR aircraft. As a US taxpayer, these reports sounds very promising. I would think that any Air Force would be happy to have such an aircraft. Now if only they can keep the price down....
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