Why the F-35 isn't invincible

While the F-35 is stealthy, it can still be detected and shot down. Stealth allows it to detect and strike first, but it’s not invincible.
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[FuriousFire]

"Shoot before being detected"
The death star is a stealth fighter chat

[x-im]

everyone gangta untill they see a bee goes 1000km/h on radar 💀

[erikk]

Yes detection is possible for enemies. The F-35 isn’t invisible, it’s stealthy.
One thing a lot of people missunderstand is the fact that detecting an opponent on your radar doesn’t mean you have a lock. The F-35 is hard to detect, yes, but VERY hard to lock on to (especially with aircraft radars) And even so, with a few maneuvers and altitude changes, the missile and opposing aircraft is very likely to lose the lock, which means a missile will go stupid, and is lucky if it detects and re-locks the F-35 on its terminal phase. This is one of the biggest selling points of stealth aircraft. Not being invisible, but hard to detect, and even harder to shoot down.
Please correct me in the comments if you don’t agree.

[jamesb]

Former ELINTer here. There's so much stuff involved with RADAR in general and EW/SEAD that it's impossible to even scratch the surface in a short comment.
A good analogy for a stealth aircraft like the F35 or F22 would be to imagine a sniper hiding in a wooded area on a dark night. You could possibly locate him if you scanned the trees with a spotlight very carefully, but the second you turn it on you are basically a sitting duck.
There's a lot more to it, but thats one of the simpler reasons why stealth aircraft are so effective.

[noraneko]

This is a pretty accurate representation of stealth technology.
Stealth doesn't make your airplane invisible from radar, it only makes it less observable. With current radar technology, you can still detect a 5th gen aircraft at 20km range, while older 4th gen can be detected at +100km range. (Though detecting at 20km is already too late).

[Boop__Doop]

"no matter how fast"
SR-71: you gonna finish that sentence?

[PowerPointGaming]

Love the scientific use of "this distance" and "this is how far"

[glulam]

I love the complete disregard to scale when comparing the distances, it is about as scientific as a kid holding their arms out as far as they can saying that they love you much

[InstantDeath-]

Since a lot of people here seem to not understand radar:
Radar works by sending out electromagnetic waves and collecting returns. Stealth aircraft are designed to minimise returns by deflecting or absorbing the waves. Many stealth aircraft are designed to reduce RCS specifically from the front because that is where most enemy aircraft will try to detect it from.

[kern]

You just shattered some 9 year olds world

[LordNecron]

A couple years ago during a flight show that also had the F-35 performing, some amateurs found the plane with some low powered system that they were legally allowed to own and operate.
Reason: The 'stealth' fighter blocks out the background noise, so you can detect it by finding the spot where 'nothing' seems to be.

[darkprofile]

And one more point. Detecting a target is not always enough to engage. Because detection must be super accurate. And illumination of the target is needed for radar guided missiles. Because missiles have smaller radars and they can't detect stealth fighters easily. And if ground radar can't illuminate the target in terminal stage missile can't hit the target.

[magura]

Yeah thats a good fact of stealth although its important to mention that F35 Pilots are shown what routes to take to not be detected from their screen which makes it a lot more dangerous than other fighter jets imo

[robdixson]

My undrstanding is f35 is supposed to be kind of a broad based work horse. Competent enough at prettty much anything. I think for a long time the f 16 filled that role. The problem is work horses SHOULD be relatively cheap and super reliable.

[overworlder]

SAM batteries have two types of radars, long range detection and shorter range targeting. Stealth is designed to delay LR detection for as long as possible but it is much more easily detected by the shorter-range targeting arrays. But the targeting arrays need to know where to look. The gap is where the stealth plane has to do its work and get out. It also works in concert with a wide array of other assets - awacs, satellites, ships, other non- or less-stealth aircraft including EW - that make it one element of larger force structures that enemy radars have to deal with.

[aaronsmith]

“No matter how high flying or fast” tell that to the SR-71. And the F-16 that out maneuvered 6 missiles.

[roberteltze]

"This is the distance..." on a chart with no labels. Well from the looks of it the 5th gen can get about one plane length closer.

[mosesmclellan]

Hi, aircraft mech here, just to clarify a few things:
A coin flip can land on it’s side
An arrow can split another arrow
You could find love
And a missile can hit an f-35. Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s anywhere near likely, and theres testing to prove it. Find me an aircraft with the same capabilities and better stealth systems.

[corpmex]

Also, I think one of the biggest things people forget about stealth is that even if you can detect it, it doesn't mean you can target it. Just cause you can see a bee 5 meters in front of you doesn't mean you can hit it with a rock. I know it isn't the best analogy but just a representation of what you're asking these systems to do.

[Phantom_Black_studio]

"see first, shoot first"
literally CSGO explained in a sentence