Quote:
Originally Posted by RN7
I get the impression that Clifton is not overly impressed with the Flanker derivatives and its Chinese clones. As he said the Flankers are not stealthy and he described it as being slow and its manoeuvrability is not great, so in a WVR scenario it holds no advantage whatsoever over any modern US or Western European fighter.
|
I may have missed something, but IIRC, his criticisms of the Flanker's lack of maneuverability at low speeds were specifically concerning the misuse of vectored thrust capabilities on some models and the impracticality of the Su-27's more notorious airshow theatrics (ie Pugachev's Cobra). In the case of the former scenario, I think he pointed out that F-22 pilots could also get themselves into trouble by over-relying on vectored thrust in a dogfight. His point was that you don't want to trade too much speed for fancy manouvers as if the aerial kung-fu stuff doesn't work first time, you're left in an incredibly vulnerable position.
I'm all in favor of upgrading our existing fleet but some of those airframes are pushing the limits of their airframe lifespans. On a somewhat related note, in an article I posted in another thread here a couple of months ago, the author stated that the USAF is no longer training its F-16 pilots for air combat. Although that might save money, it seems awfully short-sighted to me.