Scott Ferrin wrote in message . ..

Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Everything is a tradeoff. For a gun you bring along quite a bit of
weight (~100kg+ weight of ammo). What if that mass was fuel? What if
it were extra decoys? What if it were more avionics? What if it were
more engines? What if that mass was completely dropped to get a more
manueverable fighter?

Which of those choices allow you to complete the mission most
effectively? When making engineering trade-offs, you have to remember
that you can have A and not need it, but what about B? If you need B
and instead you put all that mass into A and you don't end up needing
it, that's bad engineering.

Chris Manteuffel