KenV wrote: Yowsa!!!  That makes for a lousy ''strike'' fighter in my opinion.  That wasn't the initial intend with the Viper either, but to say it is a ''lousy'' strike fighter because of this one thing is a little unfair. The limitations, which is on the hardpoints, does not make it much worse in a BVR engagement. ...

>>''Nope!! Not the case with the F16. The problem is not the weapons themselves, but the stores they are carried on. They can't take the same stress. It is very easy to overstress them even given the high weight of the aircraft.''<<Yowsa!!!  That makes for a lousy ''strike'' fighter in my opinion.  Your pylons are the weak ...

A Naval Aviator lifestyle can be pretty good.  On the boat, expect 14 to 18 hour days.  Shipboard life is austere as well as requiring LOOOONG hours.  And obviously your totally away from your family.  Shiboard deployments last around 6 months.  Expect two to three deployments per tour of duty.Ashore in a fighter squadron, ...

Cool, let's see a picture

 KenV wrote:That works in non-mountainous terrain.  In Afghanistan, flying above the manpad threat in many areas means flying well above 30,000 feet.And what is the problem with that? The A300 has a service ceiling of 40,000 feet and the very highest mountains in afghanistan are around 21-22,000 feet. Anyway it is highly unlikely a ...

 mikej_45 wrote:Does anyone know why a plane needs 70% of its take off speed by the time it reaches the halfway point of its total take off distance???There is a simple rule of thumb that explains acceleration in a prop airplane like this:''10 times the square root of the percentage of liftoff distance required is equal to the percentage ...

 KenV wrote:And of course there's also the Martin Baker option.Have to be careful with that option if there is a heat seeker in the air

 KenV wrote:Weight is usually THE limiting factor in any kind of manuevering.  External fuel tanks are designed to handle the same stresses as the aircraft.  Air-to-air weapons can also go to the max g loading of the aircraft.  Well, then I guess the F16 is unusual. Like I said earlier you don't know much about ...

There are umpteen variables including type of missile, your speed, your altitude, etc.As for detecting an inbound missile, again there are multiple variables.  If it's a radar guided SAM, your systems will tell you when the tracking station has detected you, when it has shifted to tracking mode, when it has a firing solution ...

The tactics were VERY diverse and changed drastically during the course of the war.  The tactics also varied greatly depending on the type of mission (ie. close air support of ground troops vs penetration missions into Hanoi vs SEAD missions to support an Alpha strike vs high altitude carpet bombing) and also varied by service (USAF vs ...