Statement Regarding Media Coverage of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

Andrew Hoehn, Director of RAND Project Air Force, made the following statement today:>> Recently, articles have appeared in the Australian press with assertions regarding a war game in which analysts from the RAND Corporation were involved.>> Those reports are not accurate.>> RAND did not present any analysis at the war game relating to the performance of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, nor did the game attempt detailed adjudication of air-to-air combat.>> Neither the game nor the assessments by RAND in support of the game undertook any comparison of the fighting qualities of particular fighter aircraft.>>> (EDITORS NOTE: Over the past fortnight, various reports in the Australian press have claimed that the F-35/JSF was thoroughly defeated during a US Air Force computer war game held in August in Hawaii. The latest reports also claimed that a study prepared for the war game by the Rand Corp. had concluded that the F-35 was comprehensively outperformed by Sukhoi fighters operated by the Chinese and Russian air forces.> Before Rand issued the above statement, Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon had already denied that the F-35 had been evaluated in the wargame.)>> -ends->