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The idea of a multi-purpose fighter plane makes a lot of sense for small air forces (it doesn't make it a good idea), but why do the US Air Force care about mul
by mrweasel 5y ago
The idea of a multi-purpose fighter plane makes a lot of sense for small air forces (it doesn't make it a good idea), but why do the US Air Force care about multirole anything. It's the largest air force in the world, and the best funded, surely they'd want to buy the best tool for every task.
- danielvf 5y agoI checked a recent deployment and every combat aircraft on that US carrier is an F-18. Using one multi-purpose aircraft has some fantastic advantages if you can pull it off. A carrier can use all its combat aircraft to fight enemy aircraft (effectively double the number of anti-air aircraft on board), then after the enemy Air Force is the destroyed, switch around to using all the F-18's to attack ground targets. With specialized aircraft types, some combat losses focused in a particular role can cripple the entire air wing, whereas with multi-role aircraft, you can keep right on operating. It's great from a maintenance, logistics, and training as well.
- bsder 5y ago> why do the US Air Force care about multirole anything The Air Force doesn't, but the Navy does. The thing that everybody leaves out about the F35 is that you can take a relatively small ship, put a half-dozen F35's on it with some drones, and you have a tiny carrier with a remarkable amount of firepower. So, now you don't have to sail your gigantic ass Nimitz carrier into the forward theater where a lucky cruise missile hit can cripple your entire fleet capability.