Singapore's defense minister claimed that the US military F-35 stealth fighter has carried out missions on the Russian-Ukrainian front. After this news came out, it attracted widespread attention and concern. Curiously, the Russian military seems to have no idea, despite Singapore's knowledge. In this case, the most disturbing thing is that the US F-35 stealth fighter has been involved in the operation many times, while the Russian army knows nothing.
In the past two months, there have been many incredible incidents on the Russian-Ukrainian front. How, for example, were two A-50 AWACS aircraft and the Il-22M air command aircraft attacked? And how did the Ukrainian army learn about the incident at a distance of 200 kilometers when it crossed the Russian army's defense zone?
Allegedly, the Ukrainian army recently shot down 14 Su-34 fighter-bombers and Su-35 fighters, and although this claim may be exaggerated, the losses are real. This raises questions about the limited number of medium and short-range air defense radars that the Ukrainian army has.
On the front line, the Ukrainian army has practically no medium and short-range air defense radars. This raises questions about how they were able to lock on to Russian fighters and launch guided bombs from a distance of 50-70 km. Even more puzzling is, how were they able to achieve such a precise strike?
Recently, the Ukrainian army launched a large-scale drone and cruise missile attack on Crimea. At the same time, the Russian army deployed Su-35S fighters in the Kherson direction for combat cruises. And how did the Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter plane drill out of the edge of the Su-35 fighter's radar detection and successfully launch a cruise missile?
It is worth noting that the S-200 anti-aircraft missiles used by the Ukrainian army are all old products of the Soviet Union in the 60s, but they are still able to shoot down Russian aircraft within 200 kilometers and accurately lock on to the Russian early warning aircraft, forcing the Russian army to launch S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to intercept. This ability is truly astounding.
The S-200 missile system has obvious technical deficiencies, including a lag in its radar and missile guidance capabilities. However, it is striking that the F-35 stealth fighter seems to have played a key role in this battle. Its superior performance in detection, detection, locking, and relay guidance provides accurate and rapid command support for the Ukrainian army. By transmitting the acquired data to the command center of the Ukrainian army, the F-35 stealth fighter successfully coordinated the orderly execution of the tasks of Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles and fighters.
The stealth and flexibility of the F-35 stealth fighter provides direct and effective support and cover on the battlefield. The information such as the movement of Russian military aircraft, radar coverage, and the location of missile positions was synchronously transmitted to the Ukrainian army, providing key guidance for the Ukrainian army to accurately strike the Russian army.
It is worth noting that the radar detection range of the F-35 stealth fighter is about 200 km, which is less than the 400 km of the large AWACS aircraft, but it is enough to play a key role at the tactical level. Its radar reflection area is only 0005 square meters, which is equivalent to half the size of a bird in nature, allows it to maintain a relatively low probability of being detected near the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield when performing secret reconnaissance missions.
Although the Russian army is equipped with advanced anti-aircraft missile systems such as the S-300, S-350, S-400 and even the S-500, it seems that the presence of the F-35 stealth fighter is not perceived, giving the Ukrainian army a tactical advantage in the concealment of key fighters.
The sortie of the F-35 stealth fighter is surprising, especially since the Russian army did not even notice it, which shows that the Russian army has serious problems with anti-stealth aircraft. This is a cause for concern, especially given Russia's fifth-generation aircraft technology. Although the Russian army's meter-wave radar can detect stealth fighters, the motorized radar can only be deployed fixedly due to its large size. This leads to problems such as poor resolution of stealth fighters, low detection accuracy, and limited target recognition capabilities.
The latest meter-wave digital phased array radar uses a two-dimensional logarithmic periodic antenna array, which can detect a radar reflection area of less than 00065 square meters of stealth targets, this is the world's first meter-wave anti-stealth radar for anti-aircraft missile systems. However, the number of such radars is relatively small and is mainly deployed near Moscow. On the Russian-Ukrainian front, this kind of large, expensive and power-hungry anti-aircraft phased array radar may not be deployed.
The Russian army's S-350, S-400 and S-500 anti-aircraft missiles also have the ability to detect stealth fighters, but their range of action is mostly within 100 kilometers. The US F-35 stealth fighter usually operates at the maximum range of 200 km airborne radar detection, so it is unlikely to easily enter the anti-stealth detection range of the Russian anti-aircraft missile.
In order to meet this challenge, the Russian army will strengthen the deployment of anti-stealth radars in the direction of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, and may even deploy Su-57 stealth fighters to curb the activities of US F-35 stealth fighters.
After the Su-57 stealth fighter successfully shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets, it fell into a state of lack of information. The feat that made the history of human air warfare seems to have been silenced, but perhaps in the not-too-distant future, we will witness a showdown between the F-35 stealth fighter and the Su-57, a battle that will become the focus of global attention.
Recently, NATO has frequently conducted military exercises around Russia and tried to provoke incidents on Russia's borders, which has created a lot of pressure on Russia. Especially with the emergence of one of NATO's most powerful **, F-35 stealth fighters, once an F-35 is shot down by the Russian army, it will inevitably cause a sensational event. Russia will have to go all out to meet this challenge, and the world will be glued to this potential conflict.