It's no secret that Lockheed-Martin's development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been, to put it very kindly, difficult. Cost overruns, delayed timelines, engine failures, and poor performance have plagued the fifth-generation stealth aircraft. For instance, Lockheed promised the F-35 would at least match the maneuverability of current jet fighters—but test dogfights between the the F-35 and F-16 have proven otherwise.



Now, War Is Boring's David Axe has found an 8-page document full of talking points from the U.S. Air Force, directing airmen on exactly how to say what a wonderful aircraft the F-35 really is.

"Articulate the capabilities of the aircraft and explain it is a capability warfighters must have (explain why we need the F-35)," states one part of the document.



It also provides detailed answers to potential questions such as "Isn't this aircraft too expensive?" or "The helmet has a price tag of $400,000 per unit. Why is it so expensive, and what does it do?"



In response to the potential question "I heard this aircraft can't dogfight, and it's not maneuverable. Is that true?" the document blasts reports about the F-16 versus F-35 dogfights.

"The F-35 is designed to be comparable to current tactical fighters in terms of maneuverability, but the design is optimized for stealth and sensor superiority. News reports on the F-35's performance against an F-16 was an early look at the F-35's flight control authority software logic, and not an assessment of its ability in a dogfight situation [...] There have been numerous occasions where a four-ship of F-35s has engaged a

four-ship of F-16s in simulated combat scenarios and the F-35s won each of those 4 v 4 encounters because of

its sensors, weapons, and stealth technology."

To be fair, these "guidance documents" are not uncommon in the military, and mainly meant for PR flacks. Still, the document states that "wings will also identify pilots and maintainers who are proficient at telling the F-35 story and are willing to lend their name and image to the effort."

What makes this surprising is that it contradicts some of the Air Force's own internal documents found in July, which blasted the F-35 for multiple failures. For instance, the F-35's poor maneuverability in a dogfight was because, according to the test pilot, "the F-35 was at a distinct energy disadvantage." That's not something you can fix with better "flight control authority software logic."

The guidance document calls for the U.S. Air Force to "engage with national level news media and opinion leaders in the national capital region" starting in October 2015.

So if you suddenly start reading some positive press about the F-35 in the next few months, now you know why.

War Is Boring has a full .pdf of the document here—download and judge for yourself.



Source: War Is Boring

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