> There's been a lot of debate about the usefulness of the > super-maneuverability of the latest MiGs & SUs and the first > reaction of many people is to make the same point.
For good reason. I've talked to veteran fighter pilots about this, too, and I've heard them make the same comment I did. > What is important to remember is that these are low-speed > maneuvers and are only going to be used once both the range > and speed have closed to the extent where the aircraft are in > the classic dog-fighting regime. I.e., when they both have no missiles, both have cannons, and both have excess fuel to burn? Otherwise, one of them is going to head for home. > Also, the point of these demonstrations isn't to show that the > ability to hover is useful in itself but that it shows that > controlled flight can be achieved from nearly any attitude, that > the regime of controlled flight is incredibly wide Yes, the controllability aspect of this is interesting, and impressive. If it could be done with a full load, and the aircraft could be mounted on a rail and rotated vertically, that could be impressive ... and actually useful, too. No more need for custom VTOL designs! ;-) > and that the > weapons may be bought to bear from nearly any attitude. Can you give some examples of how this might be used, operationally, in a real dogfight? Jon ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-users
