APG-81 AESA Radar for the F-35 JSF

The AN/APG-81 radar is designed to enable F-35 pilots to effectively engage air and ground targets at long range, while also providing outstanding situational awareness.

I'm posting this 9 year old vid from Northrop Grumman for one reason.  Sensor fusion...outstanding situational awareness...its all the AESA!  Where once this was cutting edge and on only a few fighters, now its everywhere.

This illustrates my frustration.

If the program was on time then it would have been world beating.  It wasn't.  It was slow and now everyone has caught up. 

I hope this helps clarify my position on the plane.  We've all been sold snake oil.  Buzz words instead of performance and a dogged determination to "stay the course" instead of realizing that we're walking into a chainsaw.

One last irritating point.  I hope the planners really know what they're doing.  All the Marine Corps eggs are being placed in the F-35B basket with regard to electronic attack.  The EA-6B just finished its last deployment and the Marine Corps isn't buying the EA-18G.  So if the AESA on the F-35B isn't up to the task then we're in a hurt locker...and Russia/China are specializing in the field both in the air and on the ground.