So the stealth F-35 according to the Russians is not a big deal?
The growing number of stealth aircraft being fielded by the United States and its allies presents Russia with an unprecedented challenge. Yet, rather than acknowledge the qualitative leap in capability that a larger and more sophisticated fleet of stealth aircraft brings with it, contemporary Russian commentators and senior military officials have, for the most part, elected to follow a long-standing Russian tradition of publicly downplaying the utility of stealth. Their misleading and often inane statements on US and allied stealth aircraft are voiced with the purpose of bolstering the standing of the Russian Armed Forces in the eyes of the international community, instilling a sense of national pride among Russian audiences, and downplaying the severity of Russia’s stealth technology lag behind the United States.
Russia's stealth efforts have faltered big time despite Russian claims.
It is kind of funny that after Russia failed to convince Congress not to fund the F-35 with propaganda that the plane wasn't worth the expense, that Russia seems to have fallen for their own fake news.
Hey, whatever the Russians need to sleep at night, I suppose. Just wait until China manages to field planes even somewhat close to our growing stealth capabilities.
So the author has a good point that America and the West have to take defense against stealth seriously despite the lack of comparable threats yet to our forces. That threat will emerge given time despite our lead starting in the 1980s.
Of course, this Russian "misleading and often inane" narrative on stealth might simply be a continuation of the propaganda effort in a last-ditch effort to convince American allies not to buy the plane despite the failure of the campaign to keep America (and Britain and Japan) from buying the plane.
But if the Russian propaganda campaign dismissing stealth ended up only convincing themselves, it would be hilarious.
