Posted on 06/16/2017 10:20:44 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The concept of 5th generation fighters not for up close but BVR even then with lesson in Vietnam F-35 and F-22 still have guns. F-35 20:1 kills was mostly BVRs.
Read post 17.
Ok, I reread post 17. It’s not super clear. The sniper pod is a super hi tech ir sensor. Every airplane, and most ground targets emit heat. The sniper pod is a heat sensor that can identify targets from far away, (40 miles plus!) and guide amraam missles to that target. It can see through clouds and smoke. It’s truly buck rogers stuff and negates stealth technology completely. Militaries around the world are buying this tech like crazy.
Um, it’s not an IR sensor. Infrared waves don’t go through smoke, clouds, or even through a glass window. Heat signatures diffract over distance. At 20km (12mi) the LRAS isn’t going to see such a small heat signature, and that’s a pretty advanced piece of military grade gear. To track something 40mi out, doesn’t sound realistic to me.
Also, stealth technology generally includes heat reduction, not just radar defeating. Even the A10 uses top-positioned high-bypass turbofans to hide its heat signature from the ground.
What do I know? I was only flying air to air fighters 30 years ago. Over 20,000 hrs of flight time. F-4c, F-4d, F-16a F-16b ADF-16 AT-38b even T-33. But perhaps you’ll read Wikipedia. Note the part where it says the sniper pods can see through smoke and clouds and aquire targets up to 5 times the older lantirn pods. Google is your friend...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_Advanced_Targeting_Pod
Thank you for your insight Pilot dave.
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