Ed Rasimus wrote in message . ..
On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 21:20:02 +0200, "David Nicholls"
wrote:

It may be too long ago to be "relevant" to this discussion but the Fleet Air
Arm, flying Harrier FRS1 in the Falklands some 20 years ago apparently never
got into a "dog fight" after the first day of air-to-air combat. They found
that they were functioning in a classic interceptor role (using subsonic a/c
against M2 Mirages!) and achived a kill ratio of some 20 kills for no losses
to enemy aircraft. It is of note that the combat a/c available to the
Argentinians outnumbered the carrier based Harriers by over 10:1. (The AIM9L
was a great leveller of the playing field)

Your final parenthetical says it all. The all-aspect AIM-9L handles
the differential in performance that occurs if you allow the enemy
aircraft to get to the merge.


The boffins at Eglin Air Force Base agreed with Rasimus and Nicholls.

The Argentine pilots used an early version of the Matra 530 that
suffered from a narrow field of vision (30-40 degrees) and a smaller
range of sensitivity to heat.

The British Sea Harrier pilots carried the US-made AIM-9L which had a
90-120 degree field of vision, with a more sensitive seeker that could
detect heat created by airflow from the target. The wider scan and
increased sensitivity of the AIM-9L was obviously a big advantage for
the British because it gave them more flexibility, regardless of
whether they attacked from the rear or front.