"Sukhoi T-50 Can't Compete With the F-35" LOL.

"Can't compete"?  Really?
Business Insider has a Lockheed-Martin PR piece article on how the Russian T-50 "Can't compete" with the F-35.  It consists of little more than a few sentences accompanying a slide show.

This piece is so full of mistakes and inaccuracies as to be nearly useless.  Nice pictures, though.

First of all, the T-50 is the designation for the prototype.  The production aircraft is known as the PAK FA.

Here, in its entirety is the article's argument:
"Though the T-50 tops out at 1300 mph compared to the F-35's 1200 mph, the American fighter can launch internal missiles and smart-bombs while flying faster than the speed of sound"
Um...  The PAK FA tops out at over 1,500mph, and it can still launch bombs and missiles at that speed.

"Both jets can slip into thickly defended ground targets, but the F-35 will be better at taking them out. But the T-50 is better suited for air-to-air battles"
Okay, hopefully that F-35 doesn't have to fight its way into or out of the target zone.

"The T-50 is said to have an excellent weapons firing range, but the F-35 has three variations tailored to specific missions"
No.  All three variants of the F-35 are tailored towards the same mission.  The only real difference is how they take off (CTOL, STOVL, or CATOBAR).

"The T-50 can take off using a relatively short 300 meter runway — but the F-35 also has a short take-off model as well as a vertical takeoff variant"
Ugh.  The F-35B is the STOVL model that requires little to no runway.  It also has decreased payload and range.  The "short take-off" model could refer to the CATOBAR capable F-35C.  It requires a catapult.  A total of 13 aircraft carriers have this capability.  11 of them are American.  The other two are operated by France and Brazil, nations not purchasing the F-35.

"The T-50 program is still getting off the ground. The first batch enters an evaluation phase this year. But the F-35 already has a training school for pilots and crew of its three variants"
Neither aircraft is in service.  Over 100 F-35s have been built already however, yet the aircraft isn't scheduled to for IOC (initial operating capability) until almost 2017.  This is almost 10 years behind schedule.  Meanwhile, the PAK FA has a total of 5 prototypes, yet is scheduled to start deliveries in 2016.  

Sukhoi has promised that the PAK FA will be cheaper than either the F-22 or the F-35.  With no compromises needed to accommodate a STOVL or CATOBAR version, it will be a simpler aircraft.  It will also be faster, more maneuverable, and more heavily armed than the F-35, and possibly even the F-22.

I'm not sure what Business Insider's definition of "Can't compete" is...  Perhaps they mean sales?  I guess in that case, the best jet fighter ever is the MiG-21.

Then again, the MiG-21 could never do stuff like this.


P.S. I keep trying to find a video of F-35 performing aerobatics...  I just can't seem to find any.

Comments

  1. YES! Give me an F-35 demo that removes the doubt. PLEASE!!


    Detail the RCS and add some magic wand avionics. I'd feel safer in a yellow school bus.

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  2. The Russians do it right. Continue development of good fighters into better fighters and dabble with future fighter development without effecting the air force as a whole. This fighter will fly circles around the F-35. But I guess the idea is that the F-35 does not worry about that because it is undetectable, unless the other pilot sees it.

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