Originally Posted by KenV
Really? I flew A-4s and F/A-18 for decades. If on a strike mission an opponent sucked me into a close-in dog fight, he had already won, even if I managed to shoot him down. The LAST thing you want to do when on a strike mission is get sucked into a fur ball. Even when you win, you've lost the mission.
Dog fighting surely is a last resort scenario but in an all out conflict within contested airspace certainly a likely possibility ,I would think.
Why then be OK with a jet that doesn't give you that last resort option to live and fight another day if it is possible to have a jet that gives you that option?
Like I said, the ability to do....
Originally Posted by myself
the former (WVR-fighting) is a necessary part of of the latter (penetration capabilities).