Scenario of confrontation between US F-35 and Russian S-500

Russia's modern air defense systems can detect stealth fighters F-22 and F-35 but have difficulty controlling the firepower system to destroy targets.

US F-35 tactical stealth fighter. Photo: USAF

Although Russia's current modern multi-layered air defense systems such as the S-400 and the upcoming S-500can effectively deal with conventional 4th generation fighters such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet or F-16 Fighting Falcon, but in reality, they still have weaknesses and encounter many difficulties when facing them.with 5th generation stealth fighters like the F-22 Raptor and especially the multi-role fighter F-35, according to National Interest.

Defense expert Dave Majumdar commented that air defense systems such as the S-300, S-400 or the upcoming S-500 system are all designed to detect and destroy 5th generation stealth aircraft. However, these are only theoretical calculations by Russian engineers and have not been tested in practice.

Typically, a tactical stealth fighter like the F-22 and F-35 must be optimized to defeat high-frequency waves like C, X, and Ku waves, which are often used by fire-control radars of air defense systems to increase target tracking ability.

To be able to counter low-band radar with wavelengths of tens of meters, the design of a stealth aircraft must ensure that no part of the aircraft is so small as to cause radar resonance. Resonance occurs when a part of the aircraft, such as the tail fin, is eight times smaller than the radar wavelength.

However, small stealth fighters do not have enough surface area or mass to coat every surface with at least 60.96 cm of radar-absorbent material – something that is completely impossible in practice – or designers are forced to optimize for the frequency band in which the aircraft operates.

This means that when deployed for attack, the F-22 and F-35 will be visible on low-frequency radars, such as S-band and L-band waves or even lower waves. In other words, they will be detected by the Russian S-400 and S-500 systems when they start to penetrate the operating range of the warning radar system.

Russia's state-of-the-art S-400 air defense system. Photo: Sputnik

But while early warning radars and other radars operating in low frequency bands such as VHF, UHF, L and S can detect or even track a tactical stealth fighter, these systems cannot direct fire to quickly pursue and destroy the target.

Thus, in a head-on confrontation, Russia's S-400 and S-500 will not be able to fire and destroy the F-35 before the US fighters complete their attack on targets within the outer protection range of these systems.

Russia has invested in low-frequency early warning radars and introduced several powerful variants, but can they network together and process the data to track and destroy a stealth aircraft?Mike Kofman, Russian military studies expert at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA)incredulous.

However, the ability to attack the S-400 and S-500 systems themselves or targets at close range remains an unproven mystery for US 5th generation fighters.

According to Majumdar,Russia has tried various techniques to defeat stealth technology, including developing a tightly integrated air defense network equipped with multiple radars to track an aircraft from multiple directions. However, the effectiveness of these efforts remains unclear.

"While Russia has yet to overcome the stealth technology problem, it is clear that this technology will no longer be an advantage for the US over time. It is only a matter of time before Russia finally finds a solution to counter stealth technology," Majumdar emphasized.

According to VNE