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Old 2013-08-01, 01:53   Link #1275
Fireminer
Lumine Passio
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
Age: 18
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Goose View Post
...dude, you really need to read up on fighters.

tl;dr short answer: the US Army is not interested in a Super Falcon concept because it's invested in the F-35A, which is the stealth lightweight TSF that'll replace the Falcon as the Lo portion of the Hi-Lo mix. (The Hi portion is currently the Eagle, which is being replaced by the Raptor).

Longer answer with more elaboration:

Light and Heavy TSFs are a concept drawn from irl fighters, and they are classed based on weight, aka how heavy the damn thing is. The F-14A Tomcat and the F-14Ex Super Tomcat are both heavy TSFs. The F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle are considered heavies, due to how much they weigh, and their roles of air superiority. Meanwhile, the F-16 and F-18 are considered light TSFs, because they came out of the Lightweight TSF program, which is inspired from the IRL Lightweight Fighter program. Tl;dr, a light fighter is literally light - the F-16 and F-18 are significantly lighter than the F-14 and F-15.

The Falcon is essentially a cheap(ish) no-frills fighter, designed to be light and highly maneuverable, and to do anything. The reason it's not getting a further developed variant in Muv-Luv (as opposed to IRL, where Oman funded the F-16E/F) is because the US intends to replace the F-16 wholesale with the F-35A. The F-16 does not operate alone, but as part of a Hi-Lo mix of F-15s and F-16s. The US Army intends to move to a new Hi-Lo mix with the F-22 and the F-35.

With the US Navy, it's a different matter. With the retirement of the Tomcat, the Navy needed a fighter interceptor to replace it, plus the legacy Hornets were already getting pretty darned old. As a result, the Navy funded development of the Super Hornet, which was intended to replace the Tomcat in the fleet defense interceptor role, and also replace older Hornets. But while it's a bit bigger and a bit heavier, it's still not a heavy fighter, because it's not really in that weight range.

The Hornet is a 2nd Gen TSF, the Super Hornet a 2.5 Gen TSF that might approach 3rd gen in performance (haha, NOPE). Rather than invest money into a 2.5 Gen TSF that will be outclassed, the US Army chose to put its faith into the F-35A, which is a 3rd Gen replacement for 2nd Gen Falcons.
Thanks! Not really into Military Aircraft, but I have always loved the F-16 (a really old movie, I think). Simply just want to see more action for it.
Also, what is the life span of an TSF series? I think is about 30 years.
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