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by valuearb
3373 days ago
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Physics means it will never win a dog fight against any front line fighter of the last 50 years. It's weight/aerodynamics/control surfaces are all compromised for better stealth and cross service requirements (VTOL). It's role is to be a standoff weapon that can shoot opposing fighters out of the sky at long range before their sensors can detect it. The problem with that is at 1,200 MPH closing speed they go from long range to dog-fight in less than 5 mins, and closing speeds can easily be twice that. The other problem is it has limited other roles. It's too fragile and lacks the ammo capacity for ground attack. It can be effective at taking out ground targets from a distance, but that's not what ground forces need, they need a tough plane with lots of ammo to fly slow and low with great loiter time. Stand-off is useful for SAM sites, but that's a damn expensive plane for a role far cheaper drones are perfect for. |
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