Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: bash@ihlpb.ATT.COM (Basham) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Dogfighting Keywords: Remeber the gunless F-4 Message-ID: <7446@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 14 Jun 89 03:26:45 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois Lines: 33 Approved: military@att.att.com From: bash@ihlpb.ATT.COM (Basham) >From: "Christopher F. Bryden" >While listening to General Yeager speak to an auidence at the Air and Space >Museum about 8 months ago,I got the feeling that with sealth, radar and missle >technology the role of the dogfight is becoming less and less important in a >tactical sense. In fact, General Yeager seemed to be of the opinion that the >weight and space used for carrying "close in" weapons and ammo is, in fact, >wasted space. This same thinking went into the design of the F-4, and the early versions didn't have a cannon. Missiles were supposed to intercept any target long before they got into "dogfighting" range. Then along came the politicians who wouldn't allow the F-4 to lauch without all sorts of identifications and confirmations. Pretty much made the idea of a long range missile useless. Granted, the optimum mission would be sneak up on the target, shoot it from a long range, and go home before anybody knew you were there. However, with the BS political system of the world, this type of mission may not always be possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Tom Basham AT&T Bell Laboratories (312) 979-6336 att!ihlpb!bash "If you can't beat 'em, infiltrate bash@ihlpb.ATT.COM and destroy them from within." bash@cbnewsd.ATT.COM