Quote: Topspeed - If you compare the F16 vs F-16XL both with F-100-pw-200 engines the F-16 has a higher top speed. Why, I can't tell you.
I'm a little late coming into the discussion, I know, and forgive me for bringing a seemingly dead topic back to life..but..the reason the XL is slower than the F-16A-E is..to put simply..drag..the XL does *not* have a delta wing design..it's a cranked arrow design, meaning it intentionally was made to look like an arrowhead...I'm not trying to be a smartalec here, please don't take it that way..this cranked arrow design is also called a 'double delta' design, hypothetically it's not meant to inhibit the turn radius of the airframe, the F-16 can pull a max of 9g's at around 400-450kts, that's it's max turn speed, anything above or below that and you'll not achieve max turn radius, the F-16C's top speed (block42+) is Mach 2.02, not Mach 2.05 due to the modifications added on, the weight was increased, the speed reduced, the first F-16's (A and B) could both achieve Mach 2.05, but what purpose would this serve? It's breakaway speed, boom and zoom tactics is all that's for gentlemen, extend and break away from a furball, then reengage as necessary. The F-16 has been described as 99% boredom and 1% excitement in terms of useage, meaning things are redundant when flying it. The XL was given better stability to increase it's ability as a 'mud mover'. The F-16 as is, is already a superior dogfighter, there's very few things on the planet that can keep up with it, with BVR now added to it's already impressive and formidable weaponry, it's simply ten times better. It can already hold 90% of the U.S Weapons inventory. It can accept parts from 75% of any aircraft in our inventory, it's cheaply produced, and has a ferry range greater than that of the F/A-18. Now that I've praised the '16 to the high heavens, lemme give ya a tidbit of information on the so called "Super Hornet". They interviewed a bunch of Hornet pilots that flew against the Super Hornet pilots, one guy said "I felt ashamed for them, we out flew them, out fought them, out bombed them, out ran them, AND we ran them out of gas". Gentlemen, that single statement right there proves that the "Super Hornet" is not only a waste of this nation's finacial resources, but it places us as a whole in serious danger, they wanna replace the Tomcat with something slower, less capable, and more expensive. The F-16 would out perform a F/A-18 any day, as for the "Super Hornet"? The F-16 laughs at it with a sad shake of it's head so to speak, I see a need for the Hornet, I honestly do, but the Super Hornet is a waste of space, if anything they should have built Tomcat21, but that's an entirely different discussion for an entirely different thread.