F-35 Down: F-16 Fighters Used New Swarm Tactics to Overwhelm and Beat Stealth Fighters in Wargames

F-35 Down: F-16 Fighters Used New Swarm Tactics to Overwhelm and Beat Stealth Fighters in Wargames

The F-35 Lightning II’s performance at Red Flag 2017 remains a pivotal case study in the transition from 4th-generation kinetic dogfighting to 5th-generation sensor-driven warfare. While the headline 20:1 kill ratio cemented the aircraft's status as a dominant force in Beyond-Visual-Range (BVR) combat, the simulated "kills" scored by aggressor F-16s exposed a critical bottleneck: the magazine depth of a stealth airframe. The post F-35 Down: F-16…