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Originally Posted by Brewster Buffalo
(Post 11550985)
Following a suggestion from the RAF in 1977 BAe proposed a version of their Multi-Role Support Aircraft that would be able to re-arm and refuel a Tornado on long range patrol.
The idea was that a pallet - fitted with four Skyflash missiles - would be reeled out from the back of the MRSA on a cable and it would home onto the fighter. The fighter would then lower a cradle and by some means the pallet and cradle would connect and then be be fitted under the Tornado's fuselage. |
A modest bit of googling will find a few articles that discuss what the USAF had been doing a decade or so ago, pursuant directed energy weapons on both fighter-sized and 747-sized airframes.
The latter was a basic requirement for the Boost Phase Intercept Ballistic Missile defense proposal. (a good enough summary is here). I will leave to the ten-pound brains the engineering challenge of getting that kind of power module tucked into a fighter: one hopes they can manage it. As to relevant RL experience: BVR is great when the RoE permit it. :p |
Originally Posted by barotraumatized
(Post 11551006)
Yes, but in 1991, Bill Gunston proposed a SkyHook that would ‘snag’ a hovering Harrier next to the BoAt, negating the need for a deck. That didn’t catch on either…(get it).
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