On Thu, 1 Jul 2004 05:53:16 -0400, "R Haskin"
wrote:

Vlado -

Realize that the Navy has some kind requirement for FAC(A) aircraft to be
2-seaters. With the Tomcat leaving, I'm guessing they must have the F model
to be able to continue to fulfill this role. I worked with a number of F-14
FACs and F-18F FACs over in Iraq last year, and they were some of the best
I've seen ever (Marines and A-10s included).

Also, realize that the 2 seats in the Tomcat were needed because of the lack
of automation with the AWG-9 radar -- for the intercept role, you needed
that RIO back there to work the gadget. The 2 seats in the F-18F are there
for a different reason -- it is a striker, and like the F-15E the Super Bug
is able to employ a wider range of air-to-ground ordnance more precisely
with that 'FO back there guiding it in.

I don't agree with the other poster's assertion that "High alpha pitch up is
not a wise manuver in ACM." I'm not sure what kind of "Air Combat
Maneuvering" that poster has ever done, but in the stuff I've done the
ability to point your nose and/or completely stop your forward movement over
the ground is *very* valuable. In a single circle BFM fight, that is
*exactly* the type of aircraft performance I'd like. Same thing goes for if
I'm in a defensive engagement...the ability to slow down quick and remain
flying is pretty convenient when you want to set up a flight path overshoot
and the hopeful follow-on reversal. People downplayed the ol' Flanker's
"Cobra Maneuver" a decade ago not because it didn't have tactical
application, but because it wasn't executable in a "real" flanker without
the radar removed, etc. You can talk until you're blue in the face about
"his wingman will pop you when you get too slow" -- and there is absolutely
something to be said about that -- but to say that there is no tactical
application, or that it's not wise, is not correct.

Well, I'm one of those old fossils that downplay the Cobra bigtime.
For a couple of reasons--first, it isn't BFM. It's combat. That means
you're in an environment in which you agree to not always win, but you
also accept that you can NEVER lose. Second, one should never be in
the arena without a wingman. I know that it happens. I've been there.
But, when it happens, your first priority is to separate, rejoin and
re-engage or separate, hand-salute your fallen comrade and go home.
You don't fight one-v-X. Third, his wingman will pop you when you get
too slow.

Now, all that being said, I'll also concede (reluctantly) that there
is such a thing as a "last ditch" maneuver. That's when you're rapidly
running out of airspeed, altitude, gas and ideas. When nothing else is
available and you're being asked to open wide to bite the big one,
then you dust off the last ditch maneuver. It doesn't necessarily win
the fight, but it lets you live another thirty seconds to consider
your next move. One doesn't resort early to the last ditch maneuver.
It might be a once-in-a-lifetime thing.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8