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From: stevenp@decwrl.pa.dec.com (Steven Philipson)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: YF22 vs. YF23 Why?
Message-ID: <1991May9.064042.12823@amd.com>
Date: 9 May 91 02:48:11 GMT
References: <1991May1.030508.20355@amd.com> <1991Apr24.054326.18229@amd.com> <1991Apr29.052647.6205@amd.com>
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From: stevenp@decwrl.pa.dec.com (Steven Philipson)


> 	[I don't think a $100 million ground-attack fighter is what you
> 	want at all.  You want something cheap and heavily armored so
> 	you can have a lot of them.  Like, say, an A10. :-)  --CDR]

   The April 22 issue of Aviation Week reported on analysis by Gen.
Merrill A, McPeak, U.S. Air Force chief of staff.  The following is a
quote of a single paragraph of this article (page 46).

     The need for such sophisticated day and night aerial activities
     appears to support the Air Force case that it needs multirole
     aircraft such as the F-16 and F-15E that can strike ground targets
     from any altitude, employ both smart and conventional weapons
     accurately and still serve as air-to-air fighters [McPeak] said.
     The reliance on sophisticated, expensive equipment to accomplish
     these tasks during the gulf war has essentially disproven the
     idea "that cheaper is better", he said.  Advocates of fielding
     masses of simple aircraft such as the "mudfighter" lost
     credibility as a result of this conflict.

Steve
stevenp@decwrl.dec.com

[ Except didn't the rules of engagement prohibit firing without
  visual contact?  What good all-weather capability then?  I suppose
  its useful to have the ability in case you really need it.
  He's talking about attack planes, though.  I don't see many lessons
  learned about air-to-air combat from Desert Storm other than that
  the Soviet model of strong ground-control doesn't do well in
  a radar-hostile environment.  Airtime for pilot training is crucial;
  if you can only afford a handful of planes and keeping them in
  the air is incredibly expensive how can airtime (and therefore
  pilot proficiency) not suffer?  But of course, I could be wrong. :-) --CDR ]