오스트레일리아가 F-111 대체기로 도입하는 F-35의 다운그레이드가 확실하다는 주장이 나왔습니다. Dennis Jensen라는 진보적인 국회의원(??? Liberal MP) 이면서 군사전문가가 도입 가격 150억 달러(오스트레일리아 $ = 110~120억 US $)에 이르는 오스트레일리아 역사상 가장 큰 무기 구매인 F-35의 성능에 의문을 제기했습니다. 그의 주장에 의하면 radio frequency signatures가 very low observable 에서 low observable 로 바뀌고 형상에도 변화가 있을것이라고 합니다. 이런 차이는 공깃돌(골프공)과 비치볼(배구공) 정도의 차이라고 인터넷 사이트에 올렸습니다. (주 : 공깃돌(골프공) RCS : 0.001~0.01, 비치볼(배구공) RCS : 0.1) 이외에도 공기역학적으로도 별로여서 수호이에게 패할것이고, F-111을 대체할만한 폭장능력도 없다고 맹 비난을 했습네요. 아울러 예비역 비행시험 및 평가 사령관이었던 David Fawcett와도 뜻을 같이 했다고 하네요. F-35의 다운그레이드와 기술을 나누지 않아서 욕을 먹고 있지만 상당히 F-35에 불만이 있는분의 글인것 같습니다. 예전에 F-35와 SU-30을 비교하면서 SU-30이 미사일을 피하면서 F-35 근방 10nm 까지 접근하면 SU-30이 승리할 수 있다고 주장하던 오스트레일리아 잡지가 생각나네요. 혹시 이분이 그 잡지 발행하시는분 아닌지 궁금합니다. ^^ " http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/not-so-stealthy-the-15b-fighters/2006/03/13/1142098404532.html " Home » National » Article Not so stealthy: the $15b fighters THE ability of Australia's new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to evade detection and enemy attack has been substantially downgraded by the US Defence Department. And a Liberal MP and former senior defence analyst, Dennis Jensen, warns that the fighters - at $15 billion the most expensive defence purchase in Australia's history - will be unable to maintain air combat dominance. "Do we really want our pilots to be caught in a knife fight in a telephone booth with an aircraft that, aerodynamically, is incapable of mixing it with the threat?" he said in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry. A crucial aspect of the fighter's "stealth capability" - radio frequency signatures - has been downgraded from "very low observable" to "low observable", according to the US Defence Department website. Peter Goon, a former RAAF flight test engineer, said that would mean the difference between it appearing as a "marble and a beach ball" on enemy radar. The problem with the fighter, Dr Jensen says, is that it can be relatively easily detected from the rear. A Federal Government source conceded yesterday that the stealth capability definitions had been changed, but maintained that the "design requirements" for the fighter to "avoid detection" had not. Signs that the stealth capability had been lowered first emerged last year, when key performance indicators on the US Defence Department Joint Strike Fighter website changed. The manufacturer of the aircraft, Lockheed Martin, insisted repeatedly to the Herald that the reported shift was an error. Australia's Defence Department also maintained there had been no change. But those assurances have proven false. When the Herald contacted the US Defence Department Joint Strike Fighter program office in Washington, a spokeswoman said the latest table on its website was correct. "There is no reason to pull it from there," she said. A Lockheed Martin spokesman said yesterday: "We will have to defer to our clients, the US Government, if that is their decision." The downgrading in the stealth capability is only one issue that concerns Dr Jensen, who has a doctorate in applied physics and used to work at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. He said the Joint Strike Fighter could not match the Russian-built Sukhoi strike jets operated by air forces around the region in important respects. It falls well short of the F-111 jet it is replacing in its long-range strike ability and would require air-to-air refuelling that would leave it and support aircraft vulnerable to enemy missiles and aircraft, he said. He also said the fighter would almost certainly be more expensive than the Defence Department admits. "[The Joint Strike] is essentially a second tier bomb truck. It lacks the necessary aerodynamics to defeat the [Sukhoi] Flankers, never mind future aircraft that may proliferate," he told the parliamentary inquiry into Australia's regional air superiority. The Sukhoi family of Russian aircraft are, or will be, operated by most Asian air forces, including China, Indonesia, Malaysia and India. It is understood Dr Jensen's concerns are shared by another Liberal MP, David Fawcett. Before he entered politics at the last election, Mr Fawcett was the commander of the Defence Force's flight test and evaluation centre. Dr Jensen and Mr Fawcett raised their concerns with the Minister for Defence, Brendan Nelson, last month. Dr Jensen told the Herald yesterday he agonised before breaking with the discipline of the Howard Government to lodge his submission, but the issue was too important.