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From: tohall@mars.lerc.nasa.gov (Dave Hall (Sverdrup))
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: why F-4's as Wild Weasels?
Keywords: radar suppression, F-4, airframe
Message-ID: <1991Feb9.034717.5511@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 9 Feb 91 03:47:17 GMT
References: <1991Feb4.072034.23521@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
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From: tohall@mars.lerc.nasa.gov (Dave Hall (Sverdrup))

|>From: clements@cs.utexas.edu (Paul C. Clements)
|> 
|>(1) "The F-4 makes an ideal aircraft to carry out the
|>    Wild Weasel mission, compared to other a/c in the USAF
|>    inventory, because _____________________."
|>
       The F-4G Wild Weasel was fielded in 1976 as a replacement for
F-4C Wild Weasels in use in Vietnam. At the time, the decision made
good engineering sense for lots of reasons:

a) Easy transition for pilots - same airframe.
b) Few alternatives in the inventory. F-15's were just coming
in. F-16's not yet available. F-111 too scarce, most allocatd to SAC.

Some personal observations:  It is not so much the airframe that makes a
modern fighter/bomber good at the wild weasel mission. It is the avionics.
To make an F-4G you start with an F-4E (cost about $5M) and add about $30M
worth of electronics. Stuff in about 40 new antennas to begin with. Then
add the AN/APR-38 computer with back seat displays, etc.

|>(2) "The F-117 ___________________ (would, would not) make a
|>    good Wild Weasel platform."   (If not, why not?)

		Would not! The wild weasel must be able to "tease" ground
based radars into transmitting. This provides a signal for weapons like HARM
to lock on to. The F-117 makes a living by being invisible. Another major
problem with the F-117 is that all of its weapons are carried internally.
This won't work with any of the wild weasel weapons (HARM, Shrike, Maverick).

        If the next wild weasel does happen, the USAF is proposing an F-15G.
Funding is not likely to occur. The Air Force will not be able to afford
very many airplanes for "Dedicated Missions" like defense suppression in
the future. They will have to take more of a USN approach - put HARM on
every conceivable attack aircraft (A-7E, A-6E, F/A-18, EA-6B, F-14?) with
simplified avionics and let defense suppression be done by all.