(Luft) Lockheed Martin F-35 - Lightning II

[Quintus Fabius]

Mal was amüsantes und ein wenig abweichendes zum Thema: die F-35 in einem hochmodernen realistischen Rechner-Spiel:

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As noted above, while these simulated tests give an interesting insight into air combat using LO fighters, they do come with a number of caveats and should not be taken (as is so often the case, firm evidence to support conclusion X). Your mileage may indeed vary. However, they do highlight the extreme difficulty for an adversary of getting to the merge with assailants, who, if playing 'unfair', maximises their LO and sensor advantages. That is not to say that WVR air combat cannot happen. Leakers, decoys and pop-up threats mean the enemy always gets a vote - and thus F-35 pilots will still need to train how to fight in the visual arena, and learn the strengths and weaknesses of their aircraft vs any threat aircraft.

For those nations, air forces looking to draw conclusions from this single F-16 vs F-35 leaked 'dogfight' report (in reality a dynamic flight test around the stability of the fighter at high AoA and fine-tuning the FBW) - it would seem to be unwise to underestimate the F-35. Get close-in with a highly agile fighter in a 1 vs 1 and you may be able to beat it, but as these tests seem to indicate, the real challenge will be getting that close without getting turned into burning wreckage.