US Stealth Air Fleet mostly grounded?

[RobertHammer]

Ye , True Stealth was F-117 - those F-22 and F-35 are just like "attack stealth fighter"

[Max Power]

I wonder if those numbers I found are averages, or from the front, or even representative at all...

[DM]

I dont see how the grounding of the F-35, which is still very much in development and not deployed, is such a big issue? Its not like they're losing any capability by having the 20 prototype/test batch grounded. Normal media sensationalism bullshit imho.

@NodUnit, as Max points out, the F-35 and F-22 have much lower radar cross sections than the F-117 ever did, making them more stealthy. Technology moves on, as do the designs.

[NoRailgunner]

The F-22 are grounded and production has been stopped long ago, the F35 are in trials/flight test programms.
The F-35C completed its first steam catapult launch July 27 2011.

"Stealth" is just another buzzword in media/film and many people do think that everything with "stealth" = invisible, superstrong!

[Star Four One]

The F-117 is a true stealth plane. F-22 and F-35 are merely "low-observation" compromises.

No Celery. I guess another ArmA V-pilot, or Civil fighter jock chippin in.

The Raptor and the F-35 are Stealth aircraft just as much as the F-117. The difference comes in the technology bracket. We "now" can incorperate stealth into a EW package to further enhance the capabilities of the a/c.

We didn't replace the F-117 without thinking about the long term stratagy.

[Innomadic]

Say that to the pilots participating at Red Flag saying that even though they could see the F-22 directly in front of them, their radar simply could not. Note also that the F-117 was so new and volatile in its design that if the Flight computer failed, the pilot had no choice but to eject. Now i don't know about you, but the loss of the F-117, which was limited in capability and lifespan, is not that big a loss.

Also how exactly has the F-35 "fleet" been grounded when it hasn't even been delivered? How are you comparing the F-117, a dedicated ground attack aircraft, to the F-22, an air superiority fighter?

I mean i've seen some real stupid "aircraft vs aircraft" discussions, but this tops the lot. I'd be real surprised if anyone here actually knew 30% of what either aircraft can actually do.

edit: May i also point out that the F-117 has been lost in combat.

[Hellfire257]

Love how condescending some people get over this sort of discussion as well Innomadic. They really bring out the worst in people (although I do admit the A3 forums are worse).

[HyperU2]

This whole argument seems to be apples to oranges to me, the F-117 wasn't a fighter in any sense.

[Innomadic]

Love how condescending some people get over this sort of discussion as well Innomadic. They really bring out the worst in people (although I do admit the A3 forums are worse).

Mate i've seen Su-37 vs Su-47 vs F-22 vs Tyhoon fights, its just ridiculous

[vektorboson]

I think they measure radar cross section in terms of the radar return of a cross section of a sphere of some size. They say the F-35 has the radar cross section of a metal golf ball. The area of a circle that has an equal diameter to a golf ball is 0.001439 m^2. The supposed radar cross section of the f117 is 0.025 m^2.

Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way?

The devil is in the detail: You mention a metal golf ball which doesn't have the same RCS as a "normal" golf ball. Since the planes also use radar absorbing coating the RCS is also frequency dependent; I've read (I think on SimHQ in the SAM-simulator-thread) about the shooting down of the F-117 in Serbia where they used a longer-wave radar band, assuming those wavelengths would reflect from the Nighthawk's interior, to track its path.
So it could be indeed that the current Stealth fighters have a lower RCS for some radar frequencies, and the F-117 for some other. It all depends on the equipment the enemy is using.