On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 10:40:42 GMT, "Thomas Schoene"
wrote:

Henry J Cobb wrote:
What good would it do to carry a short range air to air missile in
such a way that it increases your radar return to the extent that the
enemy will now be able to engage your fighter beyond the range of
that missile?

Well, JSF will carry external bomb loads from time to time. If it's already
hauling bombs externally, it makes sense to hang self-defense missiles there
too. In theory, this will happen only after the enemy air defenses are
beaten down, but I'd really hate to be wrong.

I'm also curious how you reached your conclusion about detection vs firing
ranges. I'm sure you have no detailed knowledge of JSF's radar signature,
ASRAAM's effective range, or the detection ranges of enemy radars.
wouldnt the Aim-9x have a lower RCS then the Aim-120 anyway, so how
much increase to the planes overall RCS would a Sidewinder put on a
plane anyway. And take into account by the time you get in range to
use the Aim-9/ASRAAM your stealth is meaningless cause everything is
visible/IR target tracking. JMO