Burt Rutan

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 20:48:02 GMT, "Ed Majden"
wrote:

As a test pilot at
Edwards he stated that some of the aircraft he tested in the past out
perform today's modern fighters. The F-104 was one of the examples.

At the eurofighter website
http://www.eurofighter.starstreak.ne...tech.html#eval
there is a model for comparative evaluation of the Eurofighter and 8
current fighters using 13 factors:

Twin Seat
Thrust to Weight
Twin Engines
Air to Ground Combat
Stealth
Air to Air Combat
Range
Agility
Electronic Warfare
STOL capability
CostMaintanence
Weapon selection
Supercruise

My guess is anyone making a statement favoring the F 104 would give
high weight to only three factors: Air Combat, Agility, and Thrust.
When applied to the Eurofighter model, the F 22 beats the rest,
including the Eurofighter, F15, F16, F18,

plane rating
Typhoon-89%
F22 - 100%
JSF - 70%
Rafale- 83%
Su35 - 80%
F15 - 73%
Gripen- 71%
F16 - 63%
F18 - 68%

Adjusting for advances in avionics and engine technology AND
eliminating differences resulting from today's tendency to want
multi-purpose platforms with the result that unfortunate compromises
are necessary--would the basic Starfighter platform result in a
superior weapon?

I cannot believe it would succeed based on its lack of agility
resulting from its extreme wingloading. Using John Boyd's criteria
for an effective fighter, the flying prostitute would not even come
close.

John Bailey
http://home.rochester.rr.com/jbxroads/mailto.html