US Air Force
Who
would win in a fight between a Russian Air Defense System and an American F-35
fighter squadron?
US Air Force :
No one
in the world has as of yet been able to manufacture demonstrably "stealthy" jet
fighters with a radar cross-section small enough to be genuinely considered as
‘5th generation’ EXCEPT for the United States.
Technology
requires experimentation, research and development and a rigorous process of
trial and error. With US weapons manufacturers having a rock-solid history of
having manufactured planes ranging from the F-117 and stealth bomber B-2 Spirit
to the legendary SR-71 Blackbird, it’s a small wonder that they are the world
leaders in stealth.
But nobody
has a clue on how will it end, depends on so many thousands of variables
and on each individual asset/tactics/strategy and also plain luck.
The S-400
is a deadly adversary. It is not to be taken lightly. And the random factors of
initial engagement situation and plain luck play a large role in the outcome of
any engagement.
If
there was some sort of larger war going on then certainly those air defense
systems would be among the first things targeted for destruction.nobody would
be stupid enough to fight some kind of weird war that simply pitted squadrons
of aircraft against air defense systems with nothing else going on.
The
F-35 Lightning II :
The F-35
also known as the Lightning II is a multi-role fighter was developed under a
JSF program which was intended to replace existing aircraft types with a common
fighter will replace the A-10, f16, AV 8B, Boeing f 18 warplanes in service
with the US air force. It exploits stealth technology, it is slightly smaller
and has one engine. It is planned that these new stealth fighters will be
operational for 30-40 years.
The
Lightning II aircraft 5th generation is built by Lockheed Martin Research And
Development, Aerospace Systems Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft
and BAE Electronic Systems.
Lockheed
martin f 35 lightning ii can perform on air defense missions, tactical bombing
and close air support and EW.
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| the lightning II aircraft 5th generation built by Lockheed Martin Research. |
The S 400 Triumph :
The S400 Triumph (SA-21 Growler) is designed to engage: Electronic countermeasure,
radar-picket, reconnaissance, tactical and strategic aircraft, tactical-range
ballistic missiles, medium and theatre-range ballistic missiles and other
current and future air attack assets at a maximum range of 400 km, and an altitude of up to 30 km. It can also detect B-2, F-35 Lightning II, and F-22
Raptor stealth aircraft and other targets at all altitudes of their combat
employment and at maximum ranges. This air defense missile system S 400 can
simultaneously engage 36 targets.
 |
| The S 400 Triumph (SA-21 Growler) |
The Scenario :
Long
term development of the US pilot training system, giving rise to very skilled
US pilots.
The US
Air Force has very good military intelligence, they know the exact location of
most assets, and Air Defense Systems and the best paths to stay hidden. Then
they choose the very best timing.
With
the F-35 squadron splits into several groups, fly very low, compute all targets
and at the last minute launch a huge EW battle while launching a barrage of
missiles at each main radar.
The Russians
are caught by surprise, as soon as the alarms ring they can not do more than
see the first missiles falling on the bunkers and main radars.
The Air
Defense System S-400 without radar coverage, they rely on less powerful radars
and opticals.
Even so
many medium/shorter range assets (BUK and Pantsir) fire all their missiles and
destroy some F-35 Lightning II, subsequent waves of planes find a very
weaken defense and dispatch the remaining objectives with minimal losses.
Are the S-400 really effective against Cruise Missiles?
No, they are not nor were they ever really meant to be. The
only effective defense against stealthy low flying cruise missile such as the
Tomahawk is fighter-interceptor aircraft with look down shootdown
capabilities, like the most capable Russian aircraft MiG-31 FOXHOUND, or a US Close-in Weapon System (CIWS), often pronounced "sea-whiz", a
point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying incoming missiles and
enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted
shipboard in a naval capacity. Nearly all classes of modern warships are
equipped with some kind of CIWS device.
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MiG-31 FOXHOUND: The most capable Russian
air defense interceptor aircraft, the FOXHOUND has a multiple-target engagement
capability and was the first Soviet fighter to have a true look-down,
shoot-down capability. The key to the MiG-31's effectiveness is the SBI-16
Zaslon fixed phased array antenna radar.
|
the SBI-16 Zaslon:
The Zaslon was the Soviet Union's first look-down/shoot-down
radar. This made it much harder for the United States Air Force aircraft and cruise
missiles to penetrate the Soviet airspace at low altitude (through Terrain
masking/clutter "radar"), without being detected.
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