How F-22 pilots boast of training victories over Su-35

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The descriptions of training flights by the US hawks are very similar to hunting stories. When and why the vaunted F-22 Raptor is inferior to the Russian aircraft.

Military commentator for The National Interest Dave Majumdarflew on a business trip to the elite 1st Fighter Wing of the United States Air Force, which operates the best American F-22 Raptor fighters. And he returned with completely discouraging information. The main news is that a US war with Russia and China is imminent. “It was during a combat readiness exercise. Unlike large exercises such as Red Flag or those conducted by the US Air Force School of Arms during the training phase of a combat mission, when piloting skills are mainly practiced, combat readiness exercises are aimed at finding out how ready a particular unit is to perform a combat mission. … In fact, this is a dress rehearsal and a test of readiness for war,”writes Majumdar.

In a lengthy article, the columnist for The National Interest, having talked with the wing commander and the Raptor pilots, enthusiastically talks about what he saw and heard. At the same time, it does not filter the information, since some of the pilots' stories to the gullible civilian clearly look like hunting stories. Here is one of them: “I can get close to the enemy unnoticed,” the pilot said. Fesler … - On the F-22 I fly around him, but he does not even see me. I line up in his tail and say: 'Why waste a rocket if there is a cannon.' The adversary in this case is not the MiG-23 or the Su-15, but the Su-35S 4 ++ generation multipurpose fighter, which was put into service three years ago.

The elite unit is aimed at solving the most difficult combat missions. That is, the pilots hone the ability to conduct air battles against the Russian Su-35, as well as the skills of confronting the Russian anti-aircraft missile systems S-300V4, S-400, Pantsir. SAMs mimic American radars tuned to Russian frequencies. Both the Raptors themselves and the very elderly T-38 trainer aircraft are used as opponents.

So, the statement that the Su-35 is absolutely blind, and the F-22 can spin around it with impunity at a cannon-shot distance, is refuted by the Raptor pilots, who are preparing for war not at an airbase deep in the rear, but collide with Russian fighters in the skies of Syria. The commander of the 95th Expeditionary Squadron of the US Air Force, based at one of the airfields of the United Arab Emirates, admitted to Aviation Week that the F-22 had a number of shortcomings. The Raptor is unable to track the flights of Russian aircraft at night, since it does not have special optics operating in both the visible and infrared spectrum.

We are talking about an optical location station (OLS), which the Su-35 is equipped with. The Americans did not install this on the Raptor due to the confusion of the development of this aircraft. It was conceived as a fighter that will maintain air supremacy throughout the 21st century. And, having received carte blanche, the designers of Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Dynamics rolled up their sleeves and enthusiastically began to create the ideal fighter.

However, the development budget soon grew to an enormous size. And it was cut. The designers went through technical compromises in order to meet the funds allocated not only for development, but also for mass production. And again the amount crossed the critical mark. She was sequestered again. As a result, it was not possible to install not only an OLS on the F-22, but also a side-looking radar and a missile attack warning system. But all the same, the plane turned out to be so expensive that the Pentagon limited itself to purchasing 187 production vehicles. Then the production was stopped.

The practice of using the aircraft in the Middle East has shown that the Raptor has other weak points. Thus, it is poorly integrated into a single information space during group work of aircraft. The pilots are forced to communicate with each other using a conventional radio, there is no talk of any inter-partner target designation. With target designation, it is not very cool and within the same aircraft. The commander of the 95th Expeditionary Squadron tells Aviation Week: “We have to literally turn our heads and look for someone else's plane, which we saw some time ago. All this instead of observing the coordinates of this plane on the helmet."

However, in the 1st Elite Wing, the mood is fighting. The pilots say that in training battles they have already shot down an uncountable number of "dryers". Moreover, battles, as a rule, are conducted with significantly superior enemy forces.

At the same time, they consider their main task not to get close to the enemy. Because everyone understands perfectly well that in close combat the super-maneuverable Su-35 is a cut taller than the Raptor. Cases when, in a training battle, the Raptor pilot fails to keep a safe distance from the Su-35, instructors consider it a disaster.

And this is despite the fact that most recently the F-22 received an excellent short-range missile AIM-9X Sidewinder. She has two very significant advantages. First, the deflected thrust vector. In this connection, it can be launched at a large angle "Raptor" in relation to the enemy aircraft. Secondly, the matrix seeker, which is very difficult to deceive with the help of the aircraft defense complex. But super-maneuverability in close combat, despite the fact that NATO experts consider it an anachronism of the Second World War, actually turns out to be the main advantage of the Russian aircraft in a head-on collision.

By the way, despite all the clever talk about the irrelevance of close combat, American aircraft designers do not abandon the aircraft cannon. So all this is pure hypocrisy.

The guaranteed victories over the Su-35, which the American pilots are talking about, hardly correlate much with the real state of affairs. Although the pilots are undoubtedly not dissembling. The fact is that it is practically impossible to simulate the operation of some of the most important complexes of the Su-35 on a foreign plane. This applies to OLS. And to the electronic warfare station, about the algorithms of which the Americans have no idea. In addition, on an aircraft with not the best flight characteristics, it is impossible to recreate the flight of an aircraft that is more powerful in this respect. This applies primarily to the T-38. And the Raptor's speed is 100 km / h less than that of the Su-35.

So, what are the most dubious elements of the Raptor's winning long-range combat over the Su-35? The principle “first saw - first shot - first shot down”, on which NATO generals rely. It only works well in two parts of this formula. As for the "shot down", the Raptor pilot may have serious problems. And this is due to the quality of the long-range missile AIM-120D. She has an excellent range - 180 km. This is even 30 km more than the distance from which the F-22 radar is able to see the Russian aircraft. Most of the flight path is corrected by the GPS signal. At the final stage, an active radar homing head is switched on. However, it has a rather mediocre noise immunity. And here there will be a duel between the GOS and the Su-35 electronic warfare station. In terms of electronic warfare, Russia is the undisputed world leader.

And one moment. A pilot of a Russian aircraft armed with missile warning system information, taking advantage of exceptional flight performance, is able to perform an effective anti-missile maneuver. Moreover, the dynamics of the AIM-120D are not the best.

The Raptor does not have an attack warning system. And the pilot of "drying" can take advantage of this with great efficiency.

As for the Raptor's record stealth, it works until the moment when its onboard radar turns on, which sends a signal into space about its presence at a point in space with certain coordinates. And the radar should be switched on almost all the time, since the aircraft cannot conduct passive observation of the sky due to the absence of an OLS on board. The Su-35 pilot has an all-round radiation warning station. And it perfectly captures the signal from the Raptor radar. So it cannot be said unequivocally that the “sense organs” in the F-22 are much better than those of the Russian aircraft. In some ways they are inferior.

Undoubtedly, the Raptor is a good aircraft. But his overwhelming advantage in training battles does not reflect the real state of affairs. Too approximately they simulate the combat capabilities of the Su-35. In close combat, the F-22 is clearly inferior to the Russian aircraft. Over long distances, aircraft are roughly equal in capabilities.

It is clear that the skill of the pilots plays a huge role. And the Americans are afraid of our pilots. They repeatedly stated, when our planes intercepted the American ones, that “the Russians are simply hooligans,” exposing the American pilots to enormous danger.