F-35s at Red Flag

Thirteen F-35As from Hill AFB, in Utah deployed to Nellis AFB approximately 2 weeks ago to participate in Red Flag 17-1. The exercise is two weeks in, and proving to be extremely interesting.

The aircraft currently has a 15:1 kill-loss ratio, in some of the hardest air to air seen at Red Flag in a very long time. As many as 24 aircraft are flying as Red Air in any given scenario. The Red Air also regenerates, making it that much more challenging.

In air to ground missions, an additional 2-3 aircraft have been lost, in even more challenging scenarios. In one scenario, Blue Forces encountered multiple advanced surface to air threats. In previous exercises, they would back off, and use simulated Tomahawk missiles to peel back defenses like that.

In this scenario, they're able to use multiple assets and sources to find and identify the threats, then use F-22s to push airborne threats back, while F-35s, working with EA-18s take out the defenses.

www.defensenews.com...

Guns or butter. At some point in my lifetime I would like to see a return to butter. The endless continuous war is getting old.

a reply to: dfnj2015

And I'd really like to see us get our capabilities back to the point where we aren't killing more of our own in accidents than died in a year of combat.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: dfnj2015

And I'd really like to see us get our capabilities back to the point where we aren't killing more of our own in accidents than died in a year of combat.

Absolutely me too !

Great news from red flag !

a reply to: Zaphod58

15:1 kill-loss ratio

I thought i read somewhere that the ratio would be a lot better than that or am i thinking of the f22 . Still the opposition knew they were coming so maybe thats a factor .

Still impressive though . At that rate the 76 planes Australia is getting is equal to 1140 of the enemies . OOps 72 aircraft

a reply to: hutch622

It's a combination of using software that can't use all their weapons, and scenarios that are hard as hell. You want losses because that means you're pushing the platform to the limit.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Edit above , 72 planes in theory is the equivalent to 1080 of the enemy , quite the buy really .

a reply to: Zaphod58

What would the outcome look like if it could?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Good stuff!! Lets see what they have uploaded so far!





Neat stuff! Hope for the best!

a reply to: tikbalang

Still a few losses, but I'd say over 20 kills for the one air to air loss. They learned from the F-22 having such an easy time so they're making things much harder for the F-35 guys.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Will Australian pilots get this kind of training before they come back to be trainers i am guessing .

a reply to: hutch622

They'll come participate in Red Flag as well. There's an E-7A and other Australian assets there now. They come about every year for at least one Red Flag, so I'm fairly certain we'll see them there.

They'll go through standard US pilot training, probably with a few live fire exercises thrown in as well, before they finally move the training to Australia.

a reply to: hutch622

a reply to: Zaphod58

I think there are at least two pilots there at the moment , i am guessing they are getting the same training as US pilots .

They can cover four million square kilometres during a single 10 hour mission.

The wedgetail you mentioned being at red flag , is that state of the art or did my government screw that up . Sorry for the questions but like all Aussies i want the best for my country . Well the best we can afford . We have a country just northwestish of us that is not so fond of us .

a reply to: Sammamishman

Thanks for that Sam i had not seen that video before . He had his head kicked over a bit , to many hard lefts perhaps .

Man. That sounds like so much fun. I can't imagine fighting A/A ingress. Defeating/avoiding the SAM threat. Then dropping some bombs, then fighting the way out. So much fun. I'll bet the debriefs take hours.

Plus the Red Air regen, it's a little hard to imagine. I'm sure the biggest complaint from the Lightning guys is something like:

"I need more missiles to kill more Red Air!"

Thanks for the post.

15:1 kill ratio. 'Nuff said. And shes barely out the gate. Imagine when they really have a few u
Years to upgrade her later down the line.

Shes just invisible and too resourceful out there. If it werent taken she should have gotten the spector or phantasm name. Shes like a fricken ninja. Sneaky resourceful and deadly.

a reply to: hutch622

It was a messy acquisition, but that was largely because of having to integrate a new radar and antenna. It's a really nice system though.

It uses an L Band MESA radar, capable of simultaneous air and sea search, or figure control and area search.

Amazing piece of hardware. We get them too . I've heard the helmets are awesome and work a bit like hololens right?

a reply to: 0bserver1

Yes. The helmet can project threats and system status on the visor regardless of where the pilot is looking. You can look straight down and see what's under you. You can also customize the view so you are able to see a traditional HUD type info display or direct feeds from the various cameras and sensors in the jet.
This is why you won't find a traditional HUD in the F-35 like most other fighters have.