The US Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, started a round of exercises with Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces for the second time this year on Tuesday.
On Friday, the US Navy publicized the USS Reagan's departure earlier this week from its homeport in Yokosuka, Japan, according to USNI News. The aircraft carrier leads a strike group that includes the USS Antietam and sea assets from Japan's MSDF. The two naval forces are conducting bilateral training in the Philippines Sea, USNI News noted.
According to Stars and Stripes, the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius is also traveling with the group of ships. The destroyer changed homeports from San Diego, California, to Yokosuka, Japan, in May after being equipped with the upgraded Aegis Baseline 9 combat system in southern California, USNI news reported.
The US’ fifth generation F-35 stealth fighter is too expensive and will become less and less invisible as new and more sophisticated radars come along, Russian military expert Dmitry Drozdenko told Sputnik.
Too Complex
“The F-35 is a very complex system and, as such, it has lots of holes, bugs and other things, and it is very difficult to debug it. Like other problems, all this is because it is an excessively high-tech aircraft," Drozdenko said.
He mentioned the problems the F-35 has had with its radar-evading coating and the life support system for its pilots.
The expert stressed that a single-hour flight of an F-35 costs about $40,000 compared to about $18,000 for an F-18.
“Unlike us, the Americans rely too much on stealth. However, radar technology is developing fast and invisibility is no longer a sure-fire guarantor of air supremacy,” Drozdenko explained.
He added that Russia, while also using stealth technology, still prioritizes the plane per se.
“Dogfights haven’t gone anywhere. They will fire from a distance the first day, but a couple of days later, we’ll be flying like we always did before,” he said.
On Friday, the US Navy publicized the USS Reagan's departure earlier this week from its homeport in Yokosuka, Japan, according to USNI News. The aircraft carrier leads a strike group that includes the USS Antietam and sea assets from Japan's MSDF. The two naval forces are conducting bilateral training in the Philippines Sea, USNI News noted.
According to Stars and Stripes, the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius is also traveling with the group of ships. The destroyer changed homeports from San Diego, California, to Yokosuka, Japan, in May after being equipped with the upgraded Aegis Baseline 9 combat system in southern California, USNI news reported.
The US’ fifth generation F-35 stealth fighter is too expensive and will become less and less invisible as new and more sophisticated radars come along, Russian military expert Dmitry Drozdenko told Sputnik.
Too Complex
“The F-35 is a very complex system and, as such, it has lots of holes, bugs and other things, and it is very difficult to debug it. Like other problems, all this is because it is an excessively high-tech aircraft," Drozdenko said.
He mentioned the problems the F-35 has had with its radar-evading coating and the life support system for its pilots.
The expert stressed that a single-hour flight of an F-35 costs about $40,000 compared to about $18,000 for an F-18.
“Unlike us, the Americans rely too much on stealth. However, radar technology is developing fast and invisibility is no longer a sure-fire guarantor of air supremacy,” Drozdenko explained.
He added that Russia, while also using stealth technology, still prioritizes the plane per se.
“Dogfights haven’t gone anywhere. They will fire from a distance the first day, but a couple of days later, we’ll be flying like we always did before,” he said.
