Air Force admits big F35 problems and Think Tank says F35 is visible to China and Russia Sensors

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has admitted to a wide range of past and present problems with the F-35 while maintaining that the fifth-general will eventually guarantee

 the U.S. continued air supremacy over rivals.

* Report says F35 is visible to enemy sensors which is a big problem for a stealth fighter

* This visible problem is combined with admitted fighting problems

* Software and cost problems remain unresolved

* US Navy likely to reduce its order of F35s to 12 per year 

A Washington think tank released a report Tuesday that found the 5th-generation jet – billed as the world's most advanced fighter – will be outmaneuvered in dogfights with current Russian and Chinese jets as well as the U.S. aircraft it is slated to replace. The report comes after details were leaked last month on a test flight where the F-35 was bested in most aerial maneuvering by an F-16.

"The F-35 will find itself outmaneuvered, outgunned, out of range, and visible to enemy sensors," according to Bill French, a policy analyst with the National Security Network, a progressive think tank that claims to challenge overly militarized conservative defense policies. "Staying the present course [on the aircraft program] may needlessly gamble away a sizable margin of American airpower at great expense and unnecessary risk to American lives."