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From: page@cod.nosc.mil (Ward C. Page)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Air to Air F-16 vs. F-18
Message-ID: <1991May23.063254.18215@amd.com>
Date: 22 May 91 23:41:22 GMT
References: <1991May17.063114.1236@amd.com> <1991May18.051031.11041@amd.com>
Sender: military@amd.com
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
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From: page@cod.nosc.mil (Ward C. Page)


U38956%uicvm.uic.edu@OHSTVMA.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU writes:
>I would say that the F/A-18 and F-16 would be somewhat on equal ground.
>Both are fly by wire.  Both can perform outstanding maneuvers.

Not even close.  In a close in dogfight the F-16 is much the superior
aircraft.  This was the primary reason the F-16 won the light-weight
fighter fly-off.  The F-18 really isn't set up for this anyway.

>The thing that may seperate them, however, is the fact that the F-16 cannot
>fire a Sparrow missile, while the F/A-18 can, which means the Hornet has a
>longer kill range than the Falcon and can conceivably kill the Falcon before
>the Falcon can tally him.  This does not include the AMRAAM though, which the
>Falcon and Hornet can both fire.

Well, if you're gonna worry about the best out-of-visual-range aircraft, just
strap a bunch of AMRAAMs and Sparrows onto an AWACS and shoot down anything
that comes near.  The F-4 and F-15 pilots I know hate going 1v1 with the
F-16 because it's very hard to lock onto even if you can pick it up on radar.
It's radar cross-section is very small for a non-stealth aircraft.

Ward Page
Naval Ocean Systems Center
San Diego, CA