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: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: No, fighter combat has changed since then ...
Message-ID: <1991Feb4.052942.15616@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 4 Feb 91 05:29:42 GMT
References: <1991Jan15.021838.23936@cbnews.att.com> <1991Jan17.053752.29563@cbnews.att.com> <1991Jan19.043412.6425@cbnews.att.com> <1991Jan23.035148.3645@cbnews.att.com> <1991Jan25.031538.10645@cbnews.att.com>,<1991Jan27.104656.26741@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: The U. of MD, CP, CAD lab
Lines: 36
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
In article <1991Jan27.104656.26741@cbnews.att.com>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:

|>From: randy@ms.uky.edu (Randy Appleton)
|>Uhhh, no.  Fighter combat back then was visual intercept, and then guns
|>to guns in a dog-fight.  These days air-air combat seems to be radar
|>lock-ons and beyond visual range missiles...
|
|unaware Syrian MiGs, with radar aircraft supervising, sure.  For air
|combat above Iraq, where most of the aircraft are friendly and the bad
|guys can pop up with little warning, probably not.  

Actually, first U.S. kill air-to-air kill was made with a Sparrow. First Saudi
kills were Sidewinders. Take your pick. Iraqi airspace is pretty much owned by
AWACS, so you can get some flexability in BVR launches.

|>Finally, I wonder if maybe the latest trend in fighter aircraft might
|>be to increase the bomb load.  It seems to be more efficient to attack
|>the air base than the air craft.
|
|This has been fairly fundamental dogma since the Six-Day War, which is
|why you see a lot of runway-piercing bombs and hardened aircraft shelters
|and the like.  I wonder sometimes how true it is.  The Israeli air force
|would have taken heavy losses if they'd tried that against an alert and
|well-defended opponent.

Also true that the Iraqis have been able to put back on-line their airfields
relatively quickly (decent combat engineers, fer shure). I wouldn't be
surprised to see one strike targeted at an airfield, then another strike come
in an hour later to attack the repair crews....


 Doug Mohney, Operations Manager, CAD Lab/ME, Univ. of Maryland College Park
			*  Ray Kaplan was right *