From: megazone@penny.WPI.EDU (MegaZone23)
Subject: Re: is the A-10 going bye-bye?
Organization: WPI USAF -- United Society of Animation Fans
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 14:42:11 GMT


From megazone@penny.WPI.EDU (MegaZone23)

In article <BuDEyA.FM3@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes:
>On Wed, 9 Sep 1992 16:52:53 GMT, fangs@leland.Stanford.EDU (John Wesley Lewellen IV) said:
>This wasn't a bad assumption, particularly for a European war.  We
>just weren't fighting a European war.

No... I'd say it was a bad assumption all the way around. Missiles were 
supposed to have a nearly 100% kill ratio to.... Even the best missiles of 
today don't come close. it's an example of assuming technology has all the
answers.

>John> there is a cannon, but it was mounted on the upper surface of the 
>John> canard and was intended mainly for air-to-air use.
>Only the AFTI/F-16 has a canard and it doesn't have a gun.  The F-16
>cannon is, indeed, intended for air-to-air use.  The F-16 is a
>fighter, so it's only supposed to do air-to-air.  I think the F-16
>gun is in the fuselage, offset to one side, but I'm not certain.

Ah, canard is the wrong term, he should have said strake. The F-16 mounts the
General Electric Vulcan M-61A1 6-barrelled 20mm rotary cannon in the left upper
fuselage with the firing barrel on the upper surface where the strake and body
bland.

>John> from one type of fighter to another - a change in role, as opposed
>John> to a change in armament.

The F-16 has one of the most convoluted growth processes of any modern fighter.
Originally a day fighter with just a gun and sidewinders it grew with the 
addition of an all purpose radar, reinforcing for ground attack payloads, the
16 has carried Sparrows in tests and will of course carry the AMRAAM. (The 
Sparrows mounted in a neat place... The main gear doors...) New software of
course.. Then the F-16XL double-delta, and the F-16AFTI research aircraft...
How about the F-16/79 aircraft with a GE J-79 turbojet, the same as the F-4?
That was intended for export to countries that already had J-79 aircraft. 
(went over like a B-52 with both wings blown off) The Agile Falcon with the
wing extensions, the proposed FSW aircraft.. etc etc...

>protecting the attack aircraft.  Navy, remember?  The Air Force,
>enraptured with its P_s, turned it into a bomber.  The Navy already
>had bombers, in the form of A-6s and A-7s.

Yes, bu McDD had tested the F-4 with bombs from the start. It was primarily a
fighter/interceptor, but McDD was trying for a broader market too. Grumman 
flew some of the F-14 prototypes with a conformal bomb rack where the Phoenixes
normally mount, just to show it could be done.

>don't think that the tankkiller role is one that it's really going to
>be suitable for.  The lightweight part of the F-16 seems to me to
>mitigate against it.

I think the concept of the 'A-16' is ludicrous. The F-16 is far to vulnerable
at low levels to stay there for long...
Minuses:
Single engine, bottom mouted intake, poor gust response, low armor levels, very
exposd cockpit, low payload, no suitable cannon, poor rough field performance,
high maintenence, high complexity, low loiter time, low damage tolerance...

The Rutan ARES fighter seems better to me than the F-16... It still has a 
single engine, a low payload, and is mildly complex... But is is much cheaper,
the intake is up on the side, it is designed for low level flight for gust
response, it is designed with armor, the cockpit isn't as exposed and it is 
armored, it was designed with a tank killing cannon, it has inherent rough
filed capability, it was designed for easy maintenace, it has a decent loiter
time, and it is claimed to have a good damage tolerance.

IMHO, neither total equals the A-10, and I think the USAF cocked up big time
when they stopped development of the A-10 NAW aircraft, but admittedly the A-10
is getting old and attrition is adding up. The A-10 needs to be supplemented
and if the choice is between the A-16 and the ARES, I feel the ARES is the one.

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