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Old December 19th 03, 11:31 PM
Derek Lyons
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Charles Gray wrote:

also, since my planes operate close to the ground, i may be able to
lure some jets down to where AAA can get at them,


Among other things, this is *exactly* why long range look-down
shoot-down capability has been chased by the big boys for decades now,
and is actually more-or-less working.

THe idea with the thing was that it was small, fairly cheap, agile, and very
STOL (so you could use open fields). Instead of trying for air superiroity by
an uber plane it tried for survivability by being able to have lots of
them, and very dispersed basing.


While a popular idea, it's not without it's drawbacks. You need a
sophisticated (and very vulnerable) logistics system to get bullets,
bombs and fuel forward to the aircraft. You need a sophisticated C3I
system to get target data forward to the aircraft. While sitting on
the ground, especially near the FEBA, the aircraft is extraordinarily
vulnerable.

D.
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