Future military fighters and guns - yes or no ?

"Puppinator" wrote in message
...

Ok, let me explain a little deeper...the A-10 is the only on currently
full
up operational that needs a gun....as it is it's primary weapon.

It is? Not from what I have heard about A-10 operations. The Maverick, along
with various bombs (guided and dumb) seem to be its primary armament, and
the gun is secondary.

The F-16's
(all blocks) and F-15's (all models) do not due to the fact they
don't/can't
fly realistic CAS missions. Can't do CAS from above 10,000 ft, sorry. Not
effectively.

The resident Buff operator and the resident Strike Eagle guy might tend to
disagree with you. A lot of CAS has been flown from altitude during OIF and
OEF. Both the Strike Eagles and the Vipers also conducted strafe attacks
(Strike Eagles confirmed during both operations, Vipers at least during
Anaconda).

Brooks


--
Pup
USAF, Retired
Go #88 UPS Racing, Detroit Red Wings,
Ohio State Buckeyes
__________________

"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message
...

"Puppinator" wrote in message
...
You proved my point...they were strike eagles...not a/b/c/d model
F-15's

The F-16's did it as well. So..? You just told us that the *only*
aircraft
that needs a gun is the A-10, now you seem to be saying thet the Strike
Eagle does as well. What about the F-16? The F-35, which will replace
the
F-16 and A-10?

Brooks



--
Pup
USAF, Retired
Go #88 UPS Racing, Detroit Red Wings,
Ohio State Buckeyes
__________________

"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message
...

"Puppinator" wrote in message
...
Of course, should a war come along where the gun
demonstrates
its utility on a regular (as opposed to occasional) basis, the
pendulum
may
swing back the other way again.

Well, AFAIK there has been no general consensus regarding
deleting
the
gun
armament, and everyone continues to do so. If there was such a
feeling,
we
would expect customers to be deleting them left and right as a
weight
saving
and space creating measure (adding that big spine to the Block
60
F-16's
indicates that volume usage is growing critical with that
design),
but
we
have not seen this happen.

Brooks


Guy

The only fighter that needs a gun is the Warthog. All others,
waste
of
time
and weight post Cold War.

The SOF types who found their bacon saved during OIF by a Strike
Eagle
conducting a strafe, providing *effective* (see that , Paul?)
suppression
(see the latest AFM, an article by our very own Steve Davies) would
probably
disagree with your assessment a bit.

As far as the F-15 strafing runs in Afghanistan, that would almost
certainly
have to be Strike and not Air Superiority Eagles.

So? They are not A-10's, now are they?

Brooks