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Old 05-13-08, 05:23 PM   #11
PeriscopeDepth
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SUBMAN1
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth
Why are drones unable to engage these SAM sites at least as well, if not better than an F-35?

And people seem to forget that F-35s won't be playing against today's SAMs. They will be playing against the Air Defenses of 15-20 years from now.

PD
Do you think that a 4th gen fighter can penetrate against current Russian built Sams or against Patriot? Not a chance. F-35 is needed now against any country putting in cheap new Russian Sams. 15 to 20 yrs from now, it will be even worse! And to top it off, Stealth is not invulnerable - a low frequency radar wave can find it but to declutter the background picture will take a treamendous amount a Gflops to process. Maybe in 15 years that capability will exist at a cheap level.

The drones are equipped with Harm's, but range is on the side of the Sam's, so the SAM lights up and kills the drone, with the F-35's finding the sam after the light up. This will also trick the enemy into thinking the drones are the main wave, but the F-35 will already be behind enemy lines.

-S
You are dancing around my question. What makes a $70+ million F-35 with a man in it a better SEAD asset than a drone that would cost half as much at the most? And HARM is proven to be a suppression weapon now after Allied Force. What is the F-35 going to be killing the SAM with? And why does the SAM find the drone but not the F-35?

PD
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