F-15E Strike Eagles unable to shoot down the F-35s in 8 dogfights during a simulated deployment.
“0 losses in 8 dogfights against F-15E Red Air”
A simulated deployment provided important feedbacks about the goal of demonstrating the F-35’s ability to “penetrate areas with developed air defenses, provide close air support to ground troops and be readily deployable to conflict theaters.”
Seven F-35s deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, to carry out a series of operational tests which involved local-based 4th Generation F-15E Strike Eagles belonging to the 366th Fighter Wing.
Related Link: Could an F-15 Strike Eagle Kill an F-35 Stealth Fighter in a Dogfight?
In a Q&A posted on the USAF website, Col. David Chace, the F-35 systems management office chief and lead for F-35 operational requirements at ACC, provided some insights about the activities carried out during the second simulated deployment to Mountain Home.
The following interesting chart accompanies the Q&A. It shows some stats about the deployment.
The fourth column shows something interesting: during the exercise, the F-35s were challenged by some F-15Es and suffered no losses.
Even though the graphic does not say whether the F-35s did shoot back at the F-15Es some analysts (noticing also the “pew pew pew” in the chart….) have suggested the JSFs achieved stunning 8:0 kill rate against the Strike Eagle.
Related Link: 4 F-22s and 4 F-15s ‘Killed’ 41 Fighters jets During Mock Combat
However, the “zero losses” may simply mean that the F-35s were able to complete their assigned strikes without being shot down by the aggressors of the Red Air: considered that the F-15Es were probably equipped with the AN/APG-82 AESA radar and the Sniper ATP (Advanced Targeting Pod), the fact that the Strike Eagles performing DCA (Defensive Counter Air) were not able to “find” and/or “engage” the almost-IOC F-35s can be considered a huge achievement for the pricey, troubled 5th generation multirole combat plane.
Actually, this is not the first time the F-35 proves itself able to fly unscathed through a fighter-defended area: not a single Lightning II was shot down during Green Flag 15-08, the first major exercise conducted, more or less one year ago, on the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, during which the F-35 flew as main CAS (Close Air Support) provider.
Article Source: Theaviationist.com
Considering the minimal weaponry an F-35 can carry in full stealth, what’s the point? If you want to do substantial damage, the only way to that is in “beast mode”. But doing that just gives you a slow moving bomb truck that has zippo stealth.
Besides, since the F-35 hasn’t yet taken on real world opponests, all this this is just speculation.