Fighter planes

[jnuts]

Depends on what you are measuring against. Are you talking aircraft capabilities or aircraft system capabilities? It also depends on what role the a/c is fulfilling.

An F-15 with a BVR loadout is gonna smack the shit out of aircraft from a looong ways away. If the F-15 gets into the merge with some newer jet that is more nimble, said Eagle driver is gonna be sucking up the seat cushion.

Ground attack - nothing is better than the A-10. It is this generation's answer to Vietnam's Skyraider. Gun, PGM, TGP, good loiter. It's the army's best friend in the air during a CAS fight.

Nothing will be better than the P-51 when it comes to pure cool factor.

 

[jnuts]

the F4 phantom was used for many years and showed great versitilty. I believe it is still used for wild weasel operations against SAMs

No more F-4s in the US inventory.

 

[anthrax]

I'm talking about history

What will people remember in 20, 50, 80 years?

 

[jnuts]

They'll remember the B-52. Damn thing will probably still be flying.

 

[jnuts]

Ya know, I'd have to say the F-16 has been one of the most versatile A/C we've had in a long time. IT can do everyhing. Not always good, but it can do lots of stuff

 

[digger]

Liked the theory behind the F-15 Eagle when it was first in development -- "Not a pound for air-to-ground." Pure air-superiority.

Sure seems as though the little F-16 Falcon would be a lot better for furballs, and that the Strike Eagle (two-seat Eagle) would be the better bomber, but as often as not the Israelis used the 16 as the attack plane and the 15 for escort/dogfighter! That says something about the F-15 as a pure fighter.

And the Falklands showed just how nasty the Harrier could be -- there's nothing like suddenly applying thrust at 100 degrees to your flight path to ruin the other guy's day.

Should be interesting to see how the new generation work out in practice. Vectored thrust plus stealth = ???

 

[anthrax]

Ya know, I'd have to say the F-16 has been one of the most versatile A/C we've had in a long time. IT can do everyhing. Not always good, but it can do lots of stuff

History will remeber the F-16 even though the Rafale is a better plane

 

[jafo]

I would have to go with the F-18 its stronger than the F-16 or lets go with the untested (in war) F-22...it is supposed to be the next gen of multi purpose aircraft...all it would need is stealth capabilities

most combat fighter plains being flown today can out perform the human body (what we can withstand) so until technology finds away to protect the pilot from the forces a plain would put on it ... they all are good

 

[PICK3]

It's really not about the planes anymore ... it's about the electronic warfare equipment and how it's armed.

An F-15 could beat an F-14 in a straight dogfight, but if the F-15 went to attack a carrier group the F-14 would blow it out of the sky from miles away.

The F-14 has a more powerful forward looking radar and is typically armed with longer range missles.

 

[jnuts]

It's really not about the planes anymore ... it's about the electronic warfare equipment and how it's armed.

Close, but it's more about the system....

Think:

Tankers to keep the jets in the air. Lot's o' gas passed with in-flight refueling. If you can't do that, you will be hurting. Most peope really understimate this capability.

Maintenance - it's not easy keeping these things up in the air. Also having the parts to keep 'em going. The Russian's have some nice airplanes that can kick ass at airshows - but the engines are shot to shit in a short timeframe.

Airborne radar - think AWACS. GCI is nice, but it's one of the first things that goes away. Not too many countries have this capability. And none are better then the US. I've worked w/Brit and French AWACS. French just sucked, period. The Brits were good, but not used to dealing with a lot of A/C on freq at the same time.

Radars - When Digger was talking not a pound for air to ground, that really refers to the radar on the F-15. Much like the A-10 was built around the 30mm, the F-15 was designed with it's radar in mind. It's and awesome radar. It's showing it's age now, but it's still a great radar.

Training, Training, Training... if you don't fly at night - you will suck.