mst@relay.EU.net (Markus Stumptner) (01/25/91)
From: vexpert!mst@relay.EU.net (Markus Stumptner) >From article <1991Jan22.014423.18902@cbnews.att.com>, by kjn@hrmso.att.com (Kenneth J Novak): >> From: zam@athena.mit.edu (Nor Aazizam Mohd Aasif) >> My only reasoning is that the F-14 is the only jet fighter that is >> able to carry the Phoenix missiles with their range over 100 miles, > > This is a MAJOR factor in A-A combat. > >> while the F-15 is only equipped with Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles, >> which in my opinion, are inferior to the Phoenix missiles. I once read an article in an aviation magazine on US Air Force weapons procurement policy (I can try to find the reference if people are interested, it was in '89 or '90) which claimed that in all of recorded air combat history, there were only four confirmed radar-guided AA missile kills beyond visual range. All of these situations were set up specifically to demonstrate that capability, two by the US in Vietnam, and two by the Israelis at US behest during the Yom Kippur War. The article also mentioned that missiles with semiactive radar guidance are much more expensive that anti-radar missiles or heat-seekers (a HARM Air-to-Surface missile comes in at about $270,000 and a Phoenix at $800,000, as I heard sometime during the last week. I do not know the exact price of Sidewinders or Sparrows, but the relationship is similar). At the same time, the kill ratio of Sidewinders in combat was drastically better than that of Sparrows, in Vietnam and afterwards (I'm sure the Sparrows have improved since then, but so have the Sidewinders). Allegedly, F-4 pilots in Vietnam took to firing whole Sparrow salvos at a single target to have a fair chance of scoring a hit. The article went on to mention that Sidewinder production had been terminated because the money was needed to fund the cost overruns of the development program for the new radar-guided AMRAAM missile (I think that was the name). I don't know the current status of that program or of Sidewinder production. Perhaps someone could fill these gaps. Markus Stumptner mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at Technical University of Vienna vexpert!mst@uunet.uu.net Paniglg. 16, A-1040 Vienna, Austria ...mcsun!vexpert!mst