How about this? It was lucky for the USAF that it was facing a weaker opponent. :diablo:

You’ve stretched this so far it’s become completely ridiculous. All you’re doing is making yourself look foolish.

In which scenario would the USAF be facing a stronger opponent?:eek::cool:

Isn’t it obvious that if an aircraft don’t take a route near a SAM-site then the SAM-site can’t shoot ?
Why even mention it ?
Those SAM-sites were on constant move so no planning in the world can avoid it to happen eventually, except if you stop sending aircraft in at all.
Ed: Well another way would be to send in a high performance aircraft that dodge such missiles for breakfast.

It’s not quite that simple. If you know what corridor the plane is using, and what time it took off(they had spies watching planes leaving), you have a number of things going for you to improve the chances of a successful ambush. If the planes were flying the same route night after night, then the SAM site has a good idea of where and when to look. If the plane took another route, then another SAM site wouldn’t have the advance notice necessary to set up the same ambush(especially considering the other sites hadn’t modified their systems).

In relation to your second paragragh no he is not.
That is a massive oversimplifcation of his comments and position. The sort of oversimplification that is commonly used by trolls and those with an agenda to attempt to discredit an argument.

As for the first part don’t make me laugh the wilhelm chap was spot on.
Why was there any need to respond to it, other than in passing, a simple statement of that is incorrect would have been sufficient; why also respond rudely and aggressively by accusing somebody of whining when they are in fact not? Unless of course you are looking to cause offense.

The way the question was phrased was a little whiny. A clear inaccuracy was being pointed out, and it was perfectly valid to bring up.

:confused:Where have I ever said that the technology was obsolete?

F-117 is a perfect example of what happens when a member of a magic bullet fan crowd gets to do the mission planning and I never stated anything else. BTW, according to what I have read it was everything else but a lucky shot, though.

It was a lucky shot due to the fact that the plane was flying a predictable route, creating the conditions for the SAM crew to have success. If the plane had flown a different route, those conditions wouldn’t have existed.
This being the case, it was as much poor planning on the part of the USAF, as it was skill of the SAM crew that contributed to the shootdown. It was similar to the conditions that led to the Blackhawk Down situation in Mogadishu. An ambush can be set up, if you allow yourself to fall into predictable routines.

Another thing to take into account is that the F-117 didn’t have the sophisticated MAWS/RWR that the F-22/F-35 have, so it likely wasn’t even aware of the incoming missile, so that it could take preventive actions.

I read on Meteor that it has a two-way data-link for true BVR capability, however both Rafale and Mica has only one-way data-link so some modification had to be done to Meteor before it could be integrated on Rafale, implicating Rafale need to know exactly where the target will be at time of intended impact, and/or short range.

OTOH IRST has about the scan angle as a mechanical radar, so “straw vision” is a poor analogy,
-unless you concider all radars except AESA +swashplate being “straw vision”.

It’s not the scan angle, it’s the field of view that is being compared with the straw vision. At long ranges, the FOV is going to be rather narrow, which is why it’s helpful if you know the general area to look for a target.

yes, using off-board data is another story and there are several ways it can be done

Of course that still requires either the target to emit, or an offboard platform to emit.

Read the last sentence that I wrote in my post.

I saw that. The point though was that he was talking about the ability to supercruise at high speeds without afterburner, then in the next sentence mentioned an altitude and speed.

Honestly, have you read ANYTHING about the F-22? They launched NUMEROUS missiles from the thing during developement, have dropped bombs and launched missiles from it in service, all while supersonic. Several years ago there was a news clip from the USAF mentioning the F-22 launching an AIM-120 from supersonic speed. That was the clip they released.

There was also a story about an F-22 launching an SDB at >M1.5, and hitting a target >80nm away.