F-22A v F/C-17A

Boeing has announced a new varient of the C-17 Globemaster III that it hopes will be a cheaper alternative to the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor. Current production of the expensive F-22A is expected to end after just 188 examples, and the US Air Force has long maintained that this number is inadequate to its needs. Boeing’s bid to regain its dominance of the domestic fighter market hinges on its F/C-17A varient of the C-17A transport aircraft, and the company is eager to keep its C-17 production line open after current orders have been compleated. The new model will be armed with an unprecidented 64 AIM-120 AMRAAM and 16 AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. The F/C-17A is a break with decades of fighter design philosophy, but is reminicent of the subsonic Douglas F6D Missileer, which was a late 1950s proposal for a fleet defense fighter that was to be armed with eight long range Eagle missiles.
“The F/C-17A will have outstanding, range, combat persistance, on station endurance, and the most advanced avionics”, Boeing spokesmen said. “Modern air to air missile technology has improved to the point where high speed and manuverability is no longer seen as necessary.”
The new F/C-17A will feature a bubble cockpit, above and behind the flight deck, for a Weapons Systems Officer, who will be equiped with a helmet mounted sight and the latest flat, touch screen color displays. “The WSO will have the ability to engage any target in the forward hemisphere.”, Boeing says. But in addition to that, an innovative rear facing radar and missile ejector will allow engagement of targets in the rear hemisphere. Rear firing missiles have long been thought to be technologically too challenging, but Boeing thinks it can overcome the difficulties. Each rear firing missile will be ejected in a canister with a high drag ballute. The ballute is dropped and the canister breaks away at low speed, before the missile rocket fires.
“A large aircraft like the F/C-17A allows design opportunities not available in smaller, more conventional fighter aircraft. For instance, radar array size can be far larger than in the F-22A, which greatly increases sensitivity. The F/C-17A can also act as an AWACS, and direct smaller fighters to more distant targets.”
One disadavantage of the large size is increased RCS, which Boeing has struggled to reduce. This is most apparent in the redisigned engine intakes, which are much longer and serpentine. “It adds weight”, Boeing conceeded, “but the F/C-17A has huge margins for growth.”