Does The Syrian Civil War Make The Case That The U.S. Needs Fifth-Generation Fighters

The F-35 fighter incorporates all the defining features of a fifth-generation fighter -- advanced stealth, agile maneuver, sensor fusion and high-capacity, secure datalinks. Collectively, those characteristics make it far more survivable and effective in coping with the sophisticated air defenses now becoming available to countries like Syria. (USAF: Courtesy photo Tom Reynolds/Lockheed Martin)

War In Syria Highlights Why U.S. Needs Fifth-Gen Fighters -- Loren Thompson,Forbes

The possibility that America and its allies might impose a no-fly zone over Syria just as they did during previous conflicts in Libya and Iraq is highlighting the importance of having survivable fifth-generation fighters in friendly air forces. Right now those forces consist mainly of older, non-stealthy fighters that Syrian surface-to-air missiles could shoot down in any battle for control of local airspace.

Such concerns have been on the backburner at the Pentagon over the last dozen years as the joint force fought unconventional foes such as the Taliban that lacked air forces and air defenses. Now, though, the focus of military planning is shifting to state-based adversaries that might field so-called integrated air defense networks like China, Iran and North Korea — with Syria looking like an early test case of whether U.S. fighters are up to the challenge.

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My Comment: The U.S. Air Force already has a fleet of fifth-gen fighters (i.e. F-22s) .... and I have my doubts that these planes will even be used in a U.S. - Syrian conflict scenario.

More Indications That The U.S. Air Force's Ambitions Of An All-Stealth Fighter Force Is Dead

An F-35A from Eglin Air Force Base, top, flies with an F-22 from Tyndall Air Force Base over Brooks Bridge in Fort Walton Beach on Wednesday. MASTER SGT. JEREMY LOCK / Special to the Daily News

USAF's Dream Of All-Stealth Fighter Force--Now Even More Dead -- Eric Palmer Blog

Another damning indictment has appeared showing the United States Air Force (USAF) dream wanting an all-stealth fighter force is even more dead. The November-December 2012 issue of Air & Space Power Journal has an article, (The F-22 Acquisition Program,Consequences for the US Air Force’s Fighter Fleet) by a former USAF test pilot and F-22 squadron commander, Lt. Col. Christopher J. Niemi (PDF below).

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Previous Post: A Surprising F-22 Critic

My Comment: It's hard to disagree with Eric Palmer on this one. If the Air force is your thing, this is a must read post.

Pakistan Hints China Wants A Peek At America's Secret Stealth Helicopter

Osama Bin Laden Raid: Pakistan Hints China Wants a Peek at Secret Helicopter -- ABC News

Pakistani officials said today they're interested in studying the remains of the U.S.'s secret stealth-modified helicopter abandoned during the Navy SEAL raid of Osama bin Laden's compound, and suggested the Chinese are as well.

The U.S. has already asked the Pakistanis for the helicopter wreckage back, but one Pakistani official told ABC News the Chinese were also "very interested" in seeing the remains. Another official said, "We might let them [the Chinese] take a look."

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My Comment: And this country is our ally ?!?!?!?! Pakistan gets $3 billion in aid from the US each year .... hmmm .... I think it is now time to re-evaluate this relationship.

The End Of Stealth?

F-117

Stealth Finally Meets Its Match -- The Dew Line/Flight Global

A US Marine Corps pilot posits in a very good new issue of Joint Forces Quarterly that the age of stealth domination in airpower is over.

Since the 1991 Gulf War, the USAF has launched thousands of stealth bombing sorties against the hardest targets offered by Baghdad, Belgrade and Baghdad again, yet suffered only one recorded combat loss when an F-117 was shot down over Serbia in 1999. Perhaps no other technology in history has dominated the battlefield as long or as absolutely as the stealthy airframe.

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My Comment: For old stealth planes the answer is probably yes, but as the previous post clearly states, new technology will make planes even more "stealthier".

Makes you wonder if the stealth features of the F-35 (already) makes it obsolete.

The Next Generation Of Stealth.

A cloaking device is made of copper rings, each surrounded by 10 layers of meta-material. (© Duke Photography www.dukephoto.duke.edu)

Now You See It, Now You Don’t -- Air & Space Smithsonian

Blinding us with science: the next generation of stealth.

Look down a long stretch of highway on a summer afternoon and in the distance a pool of water seems to wait for you, glistening under the hot sun. It’s only an illusion—Mother Nature’s version of a practical joke. The difference in density between the asphalt-heated air near the surface and the cooler air above acts like a lens, bending light waves as they pass from one layer to the next to reflect the blue sky and hide both the blacktop and any vehicles at the far end of the road behind a shimmering curtain.

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My Comment: The technical geek inside of me loves stories like this one .... makes you wonder what the ultimate limits to stealth are.

The Murky Future of Stealth

Image from WZL

From Air Force Magazine:

Why, after 35 years, does the US have fewer than 150 stealth aircraft?

Stealth aircraft have been around a surprisingly long time—35 years. The F-117 had its beginning in a 1974 design contest. By the time the last one retired last year, three more stealth aircraft types—the B-2, F-22, and F-35—had been built or were in the works.

Stealth had moved from the pages of obscure physics journals to pre-eminence in USAF’s arsenal.

Proof of the high value of "low observable" airplanes also has been around a long time now. It emerged in the 1991 Gulf War, when a handful of F-117s accounted for 40 percent of all attacks on strategic targets. The Air Force ever since has believed stealth should define its combat air forces.

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My Comment:The trend in the Air Force is the development of unmanned drones. They are cheaper, highly effective, and easier to maintain. Stealth aircraft are also very effective, but they are very expensive, difficult to maintain, and have human pilots that are put at risk.

Hmmm .... drones that have stealth capability .... I am curious if that is on the drawing boards.