John Boyd’s Contribution to air combat
John Boyd’s contribution to modern air combat went beyond his design of aircraft, which was the outcome of his air combat strategy – the mount for the means! The strategy was embodied in the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act)- he who completes the OODA Loop the quickest would win. Then design an airframe that would allow one to do so!!!
To all F-16 fans, PLEASE BUY THIS BOOK,
“BOYD, The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of Warfare” Robert Corum
Its recently published, and a MUST READ for anybody interested in modern fighters.
Trust me when I tell you, one of the best books I’ve ever read…
Col. John Boyd was a little known AF pilot who did change the way we/designed aircraft..His work was directly responsible for the sea-change from the heavy underperforming fighters of the Vietnam era, such as the F-105 and F-4, and especially the F-111…He’s the man behind the F-15 but especially the F-16…very extensive research into the rational behind building the Falcon..and qall the politics of the US military establishment. For example the AF generals did’nt want the F-16 to dogfight an F-15 because they knew it would win, and were afraid the Congress would demand the AF buy more 16’s and less 15’s even the Generals wanted more 15’s even though they knew the 16 outperformed the Eagle in some aspects….
Also for Soviet hardware fans, there are very intersting comparisons and performance facts concerning US vs Migs, especially the F-4 vs the Mig 21 and 17 in Vietnam..
Essentially Boyd was a proponent of the smaller, lighter, faster,cheaper, and less complex school of thought…this philosophy changed the final design of the F-15 into the pure dogfighter it became, and lead to the design of the F-16, the ultimate dogfighter, which eventually became over-weight as well
Trust me on this book, you guys are all knowledgable enough to appreciate it!
TTP
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