' Wrote:[color=#FFFFFF]
And nope, as much as USAF would like to think the dogfight is over because they have an advantage in BVR, they are not abandoning the concept hence United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program also known as TOPGUN.
I feel the need... the need for speed...
:)
Actually I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up. Especially since that was such a cool movie.
ACM, or air combat manuevering, is NOT an outmoded concept. However, one thing to realize is that it's very, very UNLIKELY that the person who is chasing you and going to shoot you down is actually directly behind you.
The same thing applies in real life as in Disco - if you're in straight and level flight while you're in combat, you're doing it wrong. That's also why we don't have real lasers in Disco - all of our weapons have an actual weapon speed, and thus they must be some kind of plasma weapons - and that makes them very similar to big machine guns. If we had actual lasers - which are light speed weapons - there would be no projectile speed, they'd be point and instantly hit at any kind of ranges that we're liable to be fighting.
Anyway - first off, you're not going to be doing ACM at Mach 2. You might be popping the occassional missile off at someone, but that's only if you're involved in a closing engagement. Airspeed for ACM are going to be between 350 and 700 mph - because if you kick in your afterburners, you're basically putting yourself open for a heat seeker up the tailpipe - a slightly more explosive version of our beloved CD's, eh?
Secondly, most shots are what are called deflection shots. That means that the pursuing pilot isn't directly behind the pilot being pursued, he's at an angle and shooting at where the pursued plane WILL BE when the stream of bullets get there - hopefully. Of course, the pursued plane is jinking, weaving, and turning, too. Thus you normally see 1 - 2 second bursts.
So unless you had some situation like where Will Smith was being chased in Independence Day, you're really not going to see much of a need for anything directly rear facing. And in ACM anyway, you're mostly scanning ahead, to the sides, and checking your instruments - that's why all the HUD displays, because you simply can't TAKE time to look behind you.
(11-21-2013, 12:53 PM)Jihadjoe Wrote: Oh god... The end of days... Agmen agreed with me.
