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In the October 2009 issue of Combat Aircraft, there is an excellent editorial on page 29 regarding a phone interview with Pierre Sprey about the current "fighter drought." He is working on a new book with Robert Dilger that calls for an, "austerely-designed and affordable aircraft tailored to missions that actually win wars."Apparently Pierre was an analyst at the Pentagon in the 60's and worked for McNamara, but he was apparently a big proponent of the LWF, as in the original F-16, not what it became, and the A-10.His requirements are for a "super maneuverable air to air dogfighter with all passive electronic systems. He wants it armed with a gun and a dual mode seeker missile. He wants to return to fighter weights of those used in WW2! He wants it to weigh around 14000 lbs. But the key is, he wants it to have a fuel fraction of .80!! He also wants it to supercruise. But he sort of takes a dump on HUD and all of the advanced displays, because he says they get in the way of the pilots SA. In that regard, I don't think he quite understands that the whole purpose of some of those systems increase SA, not decrease it.But I think he creates an interesting case for an affordable fighter. It's only a one page article, but I think it's well worth the read. I'll definitely be looking forward to the book.
In the October 2009 issue of Combat Aircraft, there is an excellent editorial on page 29 regarding a phone interview with Pierre Sprey about the current "fighter drought." He is working on a new book with Robert Dilger that calls for an, "austerely-designed and affordable aircraft tailored to missions that actually win wars."
Apparently Pierre was an analyst at the Pentagon in the 60's and worked for McNamara, but he was apparently a big proponent of the LWF, as in the original F-16, not what it became, and the A-10.
His requirements are for a "super maneuverable air to air dogfighter with all passive electronic systems. He wants it armed with a gun and a dual mode seeker missile. He wants to return to fighter weights of those used in WW2! He wants it to weigh around 14000 lbs. But the key is, he wants it to have a fuel fraction of .80!! He also wants it to supercruise. But he sort of takes a dump on HUD and all of the advanced displays, because he says they get in the way of the pilots SA. In that regard, I don't think he quite understands that the whole purpose of some of those systems increase SA, not decrease it.
But I think he creates an interesting case for an affordable fighter. It's only a one page article, but I think it's well worth the read. I'll definitely be looking forward to the book.
