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From: jln@leland.stanford.edu (Jared Nedzel)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Air to Air F-16 vs. F-18
Message-ID: <1991Jun7.072053.7864@amd.com>
Date: 4 Jun 91 17:53:37 GMT
References: <1991May24.030712.9709@amd.com> <1991Jun1.012622.27527@amd.com>
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From: jln@leland.stanford.edu (Jared Nedzel)


edat!brian@uunet.UU.NET (Brian Douglass) writes:
>U38956%uicvm.uic.edu@OHSTVMA.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU writes:
>>I seem to recall in a dogfight over NAS Miramar circa 1987, a flight of USMC
>>F/A-18 Hornets defeated a flight of USAF F-16 Fighting Falcons.
>
>  Any jet jock will tell you, it's not the plane, its the man.
[deleted]
>All due to superior flight skills and training.  A great plane does
>not make up for poor tactics.

Also, don't discount the effects of the rules of the fight.  For
example, consider the following scenarios: Two F-16s armed only with
sidewinders in a fight with two F-14s armed with phoenix, sparrow, and
sidewinder missiles.  First scenario: planes approach nose to nose and
fights on when the pass each other.  Second scenario: planes approach
nose to nose from a distance of 100 miles.  Fights on at 80 miles.

There are lots of variables in these kinds of situations: plane, pilot,
weapon systems, rules, luck, etc.  It's hard to draw a conclusion based
on the results of a single dogfight.

-- 
Jared L. Nedzel  nedzel@cive.stanford.edu   jln@portia.stanford.edu