Vanguard Magazine

tech TALK 18 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com t desIgned to handLe aLL roLes F-35: by chris Black The F-35 is still a massive point of contention in Canada. From average citizens, to journalists to all levels of government officials, it seems everyone has an opinion and despite constantly mounting evidence of its superiority, it's still largely negative. t he Pierre Sprey's argue that old school, lower tech aircrafts like the F-15 and F-16 are better choices and more than capable of handling evolving threats coming out of Russia and China. They also argue that mere modifications to the systems of each platform will suffice and that the battlefield isn't changing in the way that most fighter pilots insist that it is. The David Berke's and Billy Flynn's of the world argue that the F-35 represents the future of manned aircraft and that it has no equal on the battlefield thanks to its fully integrated systems, which are more like a drone with an on-board pilot as op- posed to a traditional fighter. Especially as we move to 2025 and beyond. The F-35 is indeed the first aircraft that is being designed from the outset to truly handle all roles. The Dassault Rafale is billed as omni-role but it is still a holdover from the fourth generation of fighter aircrafts in many ways. It is an extremely capable platform and would be the writer's second choice, but it is not the F-35's equal. The F-35 just has too many advantages over the platforms it competes with. One of the F-35's greatest advantages is its core processor which can process 400 billion operations per second. Take a minute to think about that number and imagine a battlefield situation. There are upwards of 250 threats on the sea, the ground and in the air from all hostile groups. Say each target has an average of 100,000 potential moves based on known variables. That gives us 25 million possi- bilities which leaves 399 plus billion op- erations per second free for use. With a 360-degree sensor suite with image stitch- ing it can track each and every target si- multaneously in real-time and provide the pilot with constant updates on the direst threats as well as information on the most efficient method of attack or defence. As if that wasn't enough it can also broadcast all of this information to various individuals at sea, in the air or on the ground. The F-35 won't be solo either. Add two more F-35's to that mix and you have 1.2 trillion op- erations per second at your disposal. That's with the limited processors we have now. It's basically a miniature AWACS that's far less of a liability and far more efficient in terms of maintenance per service hour, fuel burn and longevity. It's also more than ca- pable of dogfighting and thus doesn't need an escort for defence. Now we have its stealth and radar cross- section (RCS) reduction characteristics. Many detractors argue that stealth is use- less merely because methods of detection are improving. If an aircraft with a reduced radar signature and thermal signature re- duction characteristics can be spotted at 50 miles than an aircraft with twice (at mini- mum) the RCS and thermal signature can be spotted at double the range and target- ed with far more accuracy. So really, stealth isn't irrelevant in any way. The F-35's ra- dar absorbent material (RAM) coating is

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