I'm interested in canvassing opinions regarding the inclusion of a gun
on future military aircraft.

There seems to be a remarkable coincidence every time that pundits or experts
decide that something can never happen again it will. I would think that the
cost of an internal gun is small enough to be included in a future design based
on the possibility of it being needed at some time somewhere. The military
needs to be prepared for almost any eventuality. I know that the USAF has had
occasion to use guns ony strafing runs from F-15s in Afghanistan and would bet
that if someone had said there was a need for that ten years ago many people
would have laughed at the thought. I would think too that any nation in Europe
with its congested airspace ought to see that at some point it will probably
become necessary to establish visual range only (VRO) intercept and firing
parameters lest a lot of neutrals end up dead.

John Dupre'