Message posted by Magoo on May 03, 2002 at 4:14:49 PST:
FF If you go back to my post, you will see that I said, and I quote, "The F-15 and F-14 are both capable of Mach 2.5 in a dash, the F-16 Mach 2, and the F/A-18 Mach 1.8". Again, the proposal was to base the F-12Bs 'up north', NOT near NYC or any other major American cities. They were designed get as far north as possible as quickly as possible (hence the Mach 3+ cruise) and get as many inbound bombers as possible before they got in position to launch cruise missiles at US soil. The Russian bomber threat is now long-gone, and any operational requirement for a Mach 3 interceptor would be such a narrow one that it would be prohibitively expensive to even consider the development of one. As for the debate about whether an F-12B or a modern fighter with an AMRAAM would be better against an airliner? Ask a fighter pilot and get back to me - I think I have an idea but I'm not qualified enough to know for sure, and I doubt you are either. If you wish to discuss the YF-12A bit with me further, then please read the attached article, then email me as we are probably boring the hell out of everyone else by now. As for your "Mach 7" theory, well... let's just leave that one alone for now. If you like, read a high school physics text book and get back to me on email. And...as for 9/11 - I don't really care to speculate on 'what ifs' and this isn't really the appropriate forum anyway - it happened and the rest is history. BTW - here is a quick quiz for all. The YF-12 had a bomb bay capable of opening and ejecting a weapon at Mach 3. There is only one operational western aircraft in service today with a supersonic capable bomb bay. What is it? There are two more in development - what are they? No money for the first correct answer, but I believe you would have the right to call yourself a true aviation nut if you get it right (Richard and Sparkvark can't answer - I know they know. I suspect THUD and Zip do too!) Magoo ;-)
In Reply to: The F-16 does not go Mach 2 (cruise) ! posted by Fuel Fraction on May 02, 2002 at 17:46:37 PST:
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