Selection of misinformed articles on stealth, surprised your wasting so much time searching the net for articles which are repeating the same false claims.
IRST is nothing new, do you really think the US would spend billions on a aircraft design if there was a technology like IRST to make it obsolete? Absolute nonsense claims and writers obviously have zero understanding of IRST and it's considerable operational limitations.
Low frequency radar are also nothing new, fact is stealth aircraft are much harder to detect with this radar and always will by physics let alone added radar absorbing materials and design. The have extremely short range especially vs stealth aircraft and have very poor accuracy (this has been improved by advancement in computers not radar itself), you're never going to have enough low frequence radar to cover a large enough area, not only due to tech limitations itself but also cost.
IRST. Is just infared, however issue with IRST is the incredibly small field of view, basically like searching the sky looking through a pair of binoculars - The systems work great for identification once the target is acquired, but until that point there isn't a chance to detect a fighter sized aircraft with IRST alone.
Plus the range again is incredibly short, under 50km in ideal conditions.
Also the F-35 has a substantially reduced IR signature due to advanced internal cooling and a IR-reducing engine nozzle.
Western IRST systems are far ahead of Russian and Chinese technology. Level of IRST equipped Russian aircraft is considered to be not relevant vs fighter aircraft as a threat to detect stealth.
No one claims that stealth has no counter measures - but stealth technology is extremely important and gives aircraft like the F-22 and F-35 a huge advantage over non stealth aircraft and vs air defences. Those articles present no evidence whatsoever that stealth technology is outdated as claimed. The F-35 and F-22 is the result of a lot of development - work that the Russians and Chinese clearly value or else they wouldn't be developing the PAK-FA and J-20, although both those designs are clear failures as 5th generation fighters.
Seems popular to bash the F-35 because of cost and that it's American, fact is it's the best aircraft available for Australia and neither Russia or China have anything to detect it as easily as a non stealth aircraft giving the F-35 considerable advantage for both deep strike and air superiority.
Kat.
