Su-57 Stealth Fighter: News #7

Much we are not being told. Agreed the early retirement of f22 says a lot. It seems the f22 though an incredible craft cannot be easily updated and there are so few which makes the situation worse. Also as you are saying it seems near peers are giving us a run for our money. Note that the bit we are hearing about NGAD and upgrades to f35 focus on longer legs and better kinematics. Also focus on greater power as well. We are in a crisis the likes of which has never been seen before and we are waking up to it far too late in the game. I am afraid for my country. It wouldn't even be the current situation that scares me as much as what it all implies. We are arrogant, blind, full of hubris and yet we are so sure of our moral and technological superiority. This spells doom for any great civilization.

What it says to me is the U.S. Airforce thinks technological developments render existing stealth technologies less important. Photonic radar perhaps??

I would say Russian IADS is what is rendering stealth technologies less important... stealth really is governed by the law of diminished returns... the first reductions are huge and easy but then they cost more and more and get less and less effect, which means they get really expensive and less effective...

Regarding controlling aircraft with your eyes, I remember hearing about a system developed in the west... they decided that in a high g combat situation where your aircraft might be damaged and the pilot might be injured that being unable to eject could be a serious problem so a system that followed the pilots eyes so that if he looked at a specific part of the cockpit he would be ejected. There was nothing in that particular part of the cockpit so the only reason to look there would be to eject when you are incapable of manually ejecting, but the problem was curiousity... after several hours of flight pilots got more and more tempted to look at the part of the cockpit to eject them, so it was never used because on the simulator every long endurance flight the pilots always looked and were "ejected" from the plane simulation they couldn't help themselves... human nature I guess.

I dont think so, photonic radars are not going to completely replace radio electronic ones over night.

Even S-300 is dangerous to F-22 and F-35, and S-400 is an even bigger threat, not to mention the Su-35 is equipped to hunt them too with IRST and L band AESA radar... and the stealth features make them expensive to buy and expensive to own... if you are still carrying stand off munitions to attack targets then the F-15 could fly further and faster and cheaper and are a lot less fragile.

I think that the F-22 is retired simply Because it was good against an unexisting threat, which is post cold war su-27, but now it is not suitable for modern requirments.

It was designed to destroy third world countries but was not prepared for new Soviet SAMs and radars.

I am afraid for my country.

I am not. And neither should you. There is no horde waiting to invade you like HATO on Russian borders, there is no super power trying to regime change your government despite your attempts to do the same to any and all rivals.

Even if by 2030 you are flying F-15s and upgraded F-16s, there will be no invasion of the US, the US will not be bombed... the only difference is that you will struggle to bully some small countries you previously could break quite easily, but that was not good for you and certainly was not appreciated by them.

We are arrogant, blind, full of hubris and yet we are so sure of our moral and technological superiority. This spells doom for any great civilization.

You are not beyond hope... you just need to man up and admit you have been a real and have been very selfish. You could start emulating Russia... hire Putin as a consultant to make changes in your morals and ethics and most importantly actions. Treat other countries with respect instead of contempt, so other countries as people and neighbours rather than locations with resources you need and people in your way stopping you from seizing them.

I said not beyond hope but it wont be easy... you might need to eat the rich... anyone with a billion dollars is not human... seize their money they must have broken some laws somewhere...

In my opinion, i think the F-22 is superb, if we forget about the costs.

It is a stealthy F-15 which is just a MiG-25. The YF-23 that was the innovative design, but the concept was totally flawed.... they went hard out stealth, but radar and thermal optics have plenty of growth potential yet to make any stealth achievement a waste of money.

F-22 looks very good on paper, but it has always been suspicious for the lack of sales

The cost cutting like lack of IR and optical sensors of the sort they had on F-14s suggested there were probably a lot of problems under the skin... it was an imperial aircraft that would fly high over a third world country and swat enemy aircraft as they took off, but relied on the fact that the enemy didn't have any decent modern SAMs.

It has lost all its advantages of Stealth but remains expensive to buy and use... white elephant.