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I'm really confused by the heading to that article. Clearly there are questions about how the kill ratio was calculated but that's a long way from "most probably thanks to the supporting F-22". The article suggests that the ratio may be a team score with F-22s providing OCA while the F-35s are in a ground attack role ("the F-22s take care of the aggressors whilst the F-35s slip undetected through the surface-to-air defenses until it reaches the position to drop munitions at the target"). Then, a couple of paragraphs later on, the article quotes Lt Col Watkins, 34th FS/CC saying ""The first day we were here, we flew defensive counter-air and we didn't lose a single friendly aircraft," Now, last time I checked, one didn't have escorts when flying DCA missions. Am I the only one picking up (yet again) the negative bias in this reporting?
Good luck with that...they'll just spin it a different way (or many different ways) because they'll fight to the death supporting their position before they would even consider the thought that they may have been wrong....To come out with these scores during Red Flag is a testament of the progress made by the F-35 program. Little is said about this in the news, because it now contradicts the negative media bias that was blatantly directed against this aircraft, now I hope the nay-Sayers, especially Pierre Sprey will finally STFU and go sit in a corner.