In a release posted today to Lockheed Martin's F-35 program website, a spokesperson for Lockheed Martin and the Department Of Defense's F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) responded to this week's media coverage of a leaked F-35 test pilot report. The test pilot's assessment of the performance of the F-35 in mock combat encounters with an F-16D in January, which was published by David Axe of War is Boring, was that the F-35 was at a distinct disadvantage against the F-16. This despite the F-16 carrying two wing fuel tanks that give it inferior aerodynamics.
The author of the Lockheed Martin/JPO response wrote that the War is Boring post "does not tell the entire story. The F-35 involved was AF-2 [the second F-35 airframe]...designed for flight sciences testing of the aircraft. It is not equipped with a number of items that make today's production F-35s 5th Generation fighters."
The tests that the report was based on were intended "to test the flying qualities of the F-35 using visual combat maneuvers to stress the system, and the F-16 involved was used as a visual reference to maneuver against," the response said. "While the dogfighting scenario was successful in showing the ability of the F-35 to maneuver to the edge of its limits without exceeding them and handle in a positive and predictable manner, the interpretation of the scenario results could be misleading."
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