During the 15 years of JSF development, the high-end threats needed to prevent deep penetration of enemy air space also have “continued to evolve and become harder and harder” to avoid, says a senior aerospace industry official who was in Washington to hear Air Force leaders discuss the fast-approaching fiscal contraction.
As a result, the F-35 is having its mission tailored to operate outside the range of the most advanced, electronically scanned radars used for next-generation, surface-to-air weapon systems. These include the Russian-developed family of long-range, high-altitude interceptor missiles such as the S-300 PMU2 (SA-20), S-400 (SA-21) and S-500 (Triumfator).
Even if some of us knew this already.
