Disastrous F-35 vs. F-16 face-off was also a battle of philosophies

Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been having a terrible time of late. In June, War is Boring journalist David Axe obtained a report detailing the F-35's performance—or lack thereof—as a dogfighter. The F-35 went up against an F-16 in January of this year and, with the exception of a single 'hail mary' move, was soundly outclassed by the older plane.

Over at Aviation Week, Bill Sweetman has joined the merge with a considered take on where we stand with the F-35. Sweetman—probably the leading journalist in the field—argues that one's view on the new fighter depends on whether you fall into one of two schools of thought: traditionalists, and those who think stealth rules everything.

First, a quick recap of January's F-35/F-16 showdown. At altitudes between 10,000' and 30,000' (3,000-9,000m), the two airplanes carried out a series of basic fighter maneuvers, with the test pilot specifically focused on how the F-35 performed at high angles of attack (i.e. its nose was pointing further up than the direction it was flying). The newer jet did not distinguish itself, beyond being able to perform a defensive move that "required a commitment to lose energy" and which "meant losing the fight unless the bandit made an error," according to the leaked report.

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