On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:42:02 -0700 (PDT), g lof2 wrote:

And remember, the reason we have air conreol is because we have the best
fighter to knock the other sides fighter out before the get to shoot at
our troops.

It's actually a combined effort. AWACS, Rivet Joint, ground radar assets,
ground-based intelligence assets, sea-based radar assets... you get the
idea. It all goes back to the concept of "First Look, First Kill". If I
see you before you see me, the odds favor the fact that you'll be walking
home.

Modern doctrine isn't to go in and mix it up with the enemy fighters,
today's doctrine is to snipe the hostile aircraft out of the sky. If you
end up in a furball then you screwed up somewhere along the way. Granted,
sometimes you can't anticipate that happening but it's a good
rule-of-thumb.

Current fighters are snipers, and if I see the enemy first, betting odds
say that I win the fight.

--

-Jeff B.
zoomie at fastmail fm