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From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Expensive fighters
Message-ID: <1991Jun1.012857.28133@amd.com>
Date: 31 May 91 14:55:13 GMT
References: <1991May31.061422.13627@amd.com>
Sender: military@amd.com
Organization: The U. of MD, CP, CAD lab
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Approved: military@amd.com


From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)


stevenp@kodak.pa.dec.com (Steven Philipson) writes:
>   The numbers they quoted were that the 60 attack aircraft and 15 tankers
>cost $6.5 billion, as opposed to the F-117 strike grouping costing $1.5
>billion, and "only" $1.3 billion for two B-2s.

This argument is somewhat bogus. It suggests the AF will give up all
those planes in exchange for B-2s. They are not. They wish to buy both
the B-2 and ATF and the MultiRole fighter, and they will need Weasels
and EF-111s and tankers to support said ATF & MultiRole fighters and
B-2s.

You also don't hear them talk about scrapping F-15s and F-16s, either,
in exchange for the more expensive B-2s. They want to keep everything.

So what happens if one of the two B-2s goes down during the strike
because it hits a bird or one of the MiG-27 fighters has Allah on his
side? Suddenly, your capability has been cut in half and you are HOSED.

It would have helped if the F-16s were using smart weapons/standoff
munitions instead of dumb bombs, preferable with the LANTIRN targeting
pods.  We could just as easily question the wisdom of the DoD planners
who have purchased gee-wiz planes with low-tech munitions.

>> training requires air time, and the more expensive the
>>plane the less time it'll spend in the air training.  
>
>   That's not clear.  If an aircraft is expensive to buy, then there
>will be fewer of them.  Training and operational hours are a function
>of how much they cost to operate though, and these new expensive
>airplanes are being built with lower maintenance and lower expendable
>costs as major considerations.

And being asked to train for both nuclear (primary) and conventional
(secondary) missions. The AF has stated they won't be able to fly the B-2 for
as many hours as they'd like because it is so expensive to fly and the risk of
losing a plane in training is high.

One of the major unsung "triumphs" of Desert Storm, after you go through the
glory of Tomahawk missiles and Stealth fighters, is training. Red Flag and Top
Gun and OPFOR training at the NTC in Fort Irwin all worked. Period. End of
story. 

SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU