3 ms·
A plane is, conceptually, just a platform from which to launch ordnance closer and at a higher starting potential energy than you would be able to from the grou
by stouset 6y ago
A plane is, conceptually, just a platform from which to launch ordnance closer and at a higher starting potential energy than you would be able to from the ground.
Given that a plane, then, needs to be capable of carrying multiple pieces of ordnance (otherwise, it's pretty much just a guided missile), it's pretty much fundamentally going to have a higher mass than whatever missile you're launching at it.
- andrewflnr 6y agoThat sounds like it means dogfighting doesn't matter at all. You just need an autonomous missile platform with good enough ECM to avoid getting splattered by the enemy missile platform.
- magicsmoke 6y agoThat's the basis behind F35's design and why it can't outmaneuver a F16 in a visual range dogfight but is never expected to get into one.
- xnyan 6y ago>That sounds like it means dogfighting doesn't matter at all There has not been an aerial dogfight in this millennia. The last ones that would really count happened over Bosnia in the 90s. I think a Rafale took down a 1960s era MIG-23 in the Libyan Civil war, but modern fighters are either too hard to hit or too expensive to risk.