Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: F-14 vs. F-15 vs. F-16 (was Re: Mig-29 o
Message-ID: <1991Jan27.104802.26805@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 27 Jan 91 10:48:02 GMT
References: <1991Jan25.031410.10376@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 21
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
>From: JDG1@ns.cc.lehigh.edu (Jonathan David Goldstein)
>... If by "dogfight" one is refering to general
>air-air combat, the superior radar capability of the F-14 and F-15 would
>render the F-16 useless before the latter could even achieve a radar
>lock...

Yes and no.  The F-15 and F-16 acquire each other on radar at about the
same time, believe it or not.  The F-15's superior theoretical radar range
is completely counterbalanced by the F-16's much smaller radar cross-section.

Note also that almost all air-combat kills are taken completely by surprise.
The F-15's radar won't do diddly to warn its pilot against an F-16 sneaking
up behind him without using radar.  (The F-16, being smaller, is sneakier.)
The standard radar-missile engagement envisions stupid opponents, who are
not always available.
-- 
If the Space Shuttle was the answer,   | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
what was the question?                 |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu   utzoo!henry