A Leaked F-35 Test Pilot's Report

choi

The sequence of events in chronological order: (2)(b) --> (1) --> (2)(a).

(1) Christian Davenport, Pentagon Says Damning Report of F-35 Troubles ‘Doesn’t Tell the Entire Story.’ Washington Post, July 1, 2015
www.washingtonpost.com/news/chec ... l-the-entire-story/
("In an e-mail to reporters Wednesday morning, they said the report 'did not tell the entire story' of the test dogfight between an F-35 and an F-16 this year because the F-35 was not equipped with many of the features that gives it an advantage. But they did not dispute the authenticity of the pilot’s remarks, and said they were investigating how the report, marked 'For Official Use Only,' was leaked")

My comment: There is no need to read the rest of this report.


(2)
(a) Read for Yourself — The F-35's Damning Dogfighting Report; Test pilot revelas stealth fighter's vulnerability. War Is Boring, July 1, 2015 (Google: "5 hours ago"--it is 6:40 PM EST).
https://medium.com/war-is-boring ... report-719a4e66f3eb
(b) David Axe, Test Pilot Admits the F-35 Can’t Dogfight; New stealth fighter is dead meat in air battle. War Is Boring, June 29, 2015.
https://medium.com/war-is-boring ... ogfight-cdb9d11a875
("The brief is unclassified but is labeled 'for official use only' ”)

Note:
(i) David Axe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Axe
(a blogger whose website is "War is Boring")
(ii) Edwards Air Force Base
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwards_Air_Force_Base
(located approximately 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Lancaster [a city in Los Angeles County] and east of Rosamond [qv])

(iii) "The two jets [F-16 and F-35]would be playing the roles of opposing fighters in a pretend air battle, which the Air Force organized specifically to test out the F-35’s prowess as a close-range dogfighter in an air-to-air tangle involving high 'angles of attack,' or AoA, and 'aggressive stick/pedal inputs.' ”
(A) To a certain extent, increasing an airplaine's angles of attack increases the lift (to the plaint).
(B)
* What Is Angle of Attack?  Boeing, undated
www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_12/whatisaoa.pdf

The Boeing page also explains “pitch angle”--the same pitch in the War Is Boring article later: “Insufficient pitch rate.”
* Angle of Attack. The Aviation History Online Museum, undated
www.aviation-history.com/theory/angle_of_attack.htm
("During landing, an airplane may have a level attitude, but a high angle of attack, because the flight path is downward and the approaching wind is parallel to the flight path. ")
(C) In case you need the definition, here is it:

chord (aeronautics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_(aeronautics)

(iv) "The F-16, by contrast, was hauling two bulky underwing drop tanks, putting the older jet at an aerodynamic disadvantage.”

drop tank
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_tank

(v) "The F-35 jockey tried to target the F-16 with the stealth jet’s 25-millimeter cannon, but the smaller F-16 easily dodged. “Instead of catching the bandit off-guard by rapidly pull aft to achieve lead, the nose rate was slow, allowing him to easily time his jink prior to a gun solution,” the JSF pilot complained."
(A) jink (n and vi; origin unknown): "to move quickly or unexpectedly with sudden turns and shifts (as in dodging)"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jink
(B) Not to be confused with
jinx (n): "one that brings bad luck; also : the state or spell of bad luck brought on by a jinx"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jinx

(vi) "The JSF tester found just one way to win a short-range air-to-air engagement — by performing a very specific maneuver. 'Once established at high AoA, a prolonged full rudder input generated a fast enough yaw rate to create excessive heading crossing angles with opportunities to point for missile shots.' ”

For "yaw," see Euler angles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_angles
(section 2 Tait–Bryan angles, section 2.2 Alternative names: an illustration)