Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
How relevant is gun fighting for the F22/F35?
Of the appx 54 kills by US Air Force F-15s, not a single one was with the gun.
Apparently some of the Israelis' appx 50 F15 kills have been by gun, but I don't know how many. Anyway we don't design our fighters for the Israelis, we design them for us.
Yes, we all know the stories about F4's sent to Vietnam without cannon. That was 45 years ago, and missile technology has advanced a lot. Plus, there is a difference between a fighter with no gun capabilities, and a fighter with some gun capabilities. Maybe "some" is plenty good enough.
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Vietnam proved the gun will never go out of style. For the small amount of cost and weight it adds to a platform it is well worth the hassle if for no other reason than
any plane with a gun is capable of delivering emergency CAS, regardless of what kind of air to air wonder missiles are hanging off of it. A gun armed plane can
always strafe in a pinch if our ground troops need emergency support.
BTW, A-10s scored gun kills in ODS.
AMRAAM has a real world combat record of approx 65%.
"They're not called hittles, they're called missiles. I always fire two."
~F-15 ODS combat pilot
Guns will always have a place in fighters. Always.