The F-35 has only ever had two or three class A incidents at this point and it's been around for at least 10-15 years. A lot of previous aircraft would have already had plenty of class A incidents at this point.

Though it's implementation has been rather slow, to be fair.

have they seen any combat flights yet even?

RT was already going on about it by 9:30

Yea, they have. In Syria at the very least and I think they've been in Afghanistan as well.

*I think.*

Of course it's been for troop support mainly.

Both direct and in-direct.

Who thought an aircraft capable of tracking around three times the amount of targets of the F-22 (which is around 200, so thus the F-35 can track 600) would be good for surveillance and recon?

Seems it was isolated anyways. http://twitter.com/CombatAir/status/1050472030573858816

middle eastern shitholes with patchy 1960's radar would be the only place on earth an F-35 would be stealthy

can fly around with the bomb bay wide open as much as it likes

<:GWahreeVampySmug:369468206735425546>

Wow, it’s almost as if America hasn’t been involved in an all out war with an equally well armed enemy since like, hmmm. 1945 or something

I would say Korea, but that'd be being kind to the Norks and Chinks.

While "well armed" I wouldn't say they where equals like how Japan and Germany where

Well, they weren't even really all that well armed except for the very start of the war.

And even then, the only really well equipped group in combat during that war were the Stovies flying Migs.

And some of the Chinks and Norks they trained.

Reminder that the Norks are the only people that have actually mounted MANPADS on their tanks to tell helos to go fuck themselves.

>Int check
>20

>having to use a MANPAD because you cant hit the helo with your main gun

Nork MANPADs are the equivalent of off hand shooting a pistol in the general direction of someone to tell them to fuck off

Actually it's a FIM-92 equivalent but okay.

It's on this ghetto little remote mount on the side of the turret, two Stinger-equivalent MANPADS duct taped together because F&F is OP.

Cheap shit zero-overhead upgrade that requires almost no additional effort or maintenance, no billion dollar boondoggle upgrade programs, and can be easily upgraded to modern standards by just slapping a new MANPAD on the mount

And it makes EVERY TANK a threat to CAS aircraft and helos.

Even outdated T-55s and T-64s

Virgin F-35 vs Chad Nork MANPAD

Unironically though

A F&F infrared all-aspect MANPAD with a high off-bore tracking capability...

F-35 is SOL

You have two options in that scenario: 1, outrun the missile, kinda hard to do when they go Mach 2.5+; 2, outmaneuver the missile, also hard to do when they can pull something like 15g or more.

>Nork AA
>Katyusha of MANPADs

>Implying Nork tanks have electronics

If the fixed wing pilots are smart, they won't even be close enough for the MANPADs to track them.

And if they do get a shot off, counter measures are also something to take into account.

consideing its probably just old chinese tech that has been "Updated" the best the Norks can manage

I mean Nork tech isn't actually that bad. Underestimating your opponent is the first step to losing.

And overestimating hem is a good way to waste resources

Of course, but ^