Quote:
Originally Posted by underGRADFlame
When was the last time an active dog fight happened in combat? I still think that the F-35 fits the requirements of what Canada needs best without buying tech that is already 20 years old.
|
To be fair though, wasn't that exact same statement made in Vietnam when the F-4s got deployed? They deleted the guns off that fighter because missiles made dogfighting a thing of the past. When unacceptable combat losses mounted from Vietnamese and Soviet pilots during dogfights, they put a guns back onto the F-4 and started up the Top Gun program at the naval academy.
Point is, a fighter that is meant to replace a 20 year old design, should be no worse than the 20 year old design. And we haven't had a hot war where a dogfighting would be required in a long time, doesn't mean we should be less ready for one.