Quote:
Originally Posted by Tak
Shoji Kawamori stated that VF-19s were too much of a 'hero' fighter, so he doesn't want conflicting interests.
Although in the 'canon', its indicated that the VF-19 was too damn expensive, and the VF-171 was easy to mass produce, easy to maintain and easy to handle.
Moreover, VF-19s would have been at least 20 years old by the events of Frontier. Pretty outdated, if you ask me.
- Tak
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I can sort of agree on the hero fighter but, but calling a 20 year old fighter "outdated" isn't necessarily true. Modern Fighter jet designs often have service lives of 30-40 years. A few random examples:
F-4 Phantom, Introduction 30th December 1960, "retired" to target drone service in 2001
F-15 Eagle, Introduction 9th January 1976, Still in service, planned to continue service until 2025.
F-14 Tomcat, Introduction September 1974, Retired September 2006
Conversely, Macross Variable Fighters seem to have shorter careers before being replaced by something else.
1st Generation
VF-1 Valkyrie - Production Began Nov 2008 - Production Ended March 2015
2nd Generation
VF-4 Lighting III - Production Began Feb 2012 - Production Ended 2022
3rd Generation
VF-5000 StarMirage - Production Began 2020 - Production Ended 2029
VF-9 Cutlass - Production Began 2023 - Production Ended 2029
4th Generation
VF-11 Thunderbolt - Production Began Dec 2030 - Production Ended ??? (Late 2040s likely?)
VF-14 Vampire - Production Began 2028 - Production Ended ???
VF-17 Nightmare - Production Began ??? (Late 30s? First prototype flights in 2035) - Production Ended ???
5th Generation
VF-19 Excalibur - Production Began 2041 - Production Ended ???
VF-22 Sturmvogel II - Production Began Dec 2042 - Production Ended ???
Now granted the Macross stats are manufacturing production runs, compared to service lifetimes of the USAF fighters. Most of those Variable fighters are likely still in service SOMEWHERE, whether in the Military or a colony militia or whatever (VF-5000 StarMirage were shown in use by the Zola Police force in 2045). And just like real life US fighters, I'm sure the older models have received modernization upgrades to avionics, engines, and other systems.
I'm sure a VF-19, with it's exceptional performance, could probably keep up, or at least hold it's own, with a VF-25 if it received a systems update. However, America and other modern nations update theirs fighters because it still has the same ones on hand, it isn't constantly shipping them off with colony fleets. As mentioned the VF-19 probably was a very expensive fighter, and it's easier to just build new fighters for your new colony fleets than to update older fighters.
I'm sure older Colony Fleets are still going around with updated versions of older VF fighters serving alongside whatever more modern fighters their factories may have produced during their voyage.
Wow, this was a lot more long-winded then I had intended it to be.
