2 ms·
The F-16 isn't a single role aircraft; it can dogfight/intercept, perform CAS, perform SEAD, and conduct interdiction raids.
by greedo 12y ago
The F-16 isn't a single role aircraft; it can dogfight/intercept, perform CAS, perform SEAD, and conduct interdiction raids.
- smacktoward 12y agoTrue, but it was designed as a single-role aircraft: a lightweight, inexpensive air superiority fighter. The other roles only came later, when people realized what a versatile airframe that program had produced.
- greedo 12y agoBut that's true of most modern aircraft. The F-4 was intended as a fleet interceptor, and was put into numerous other roles. The S-3 was intended for ASW and ended up doing recon, ECM, and land attack roles. Even the F-14 ended up as the Bombcat with the addition of targeting pods.
- gaius 12y agoRight - set out with a clear purpose in mind, produce a clean, elegant design, and be delighted when it can do other things too. That is the Unix philosophy too, or it was before systemd, the F35 of init systems.