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Well the problem is that I believe that some of those whom have corresponded with retired Nortrop engineers have said that they (Northrop engineers) stated that this launcher design was not what they were planning on using. It is possible they could've circled back to this or a similar design to meet the desire for 6 + 2 configuration. Personally I do agree with others that the weapons bay configuration is a weakness of the design, unless there is a launcher technology we aren't aware of. Its not so much the volume but there are a bunch of constraints that really limit how many AMRAAMs you can realistically carry. The biggest one being the relatively small doors. Notice too how no other designs have followed this approach. The F-35 being somewhat similar in that it too uses a deep bay design but this was mainly driven by the requirement to carry 2Klbs class weapons. Don't get me wrong, I love the F-23 as a design overall but it's weapons bay is a not a design strength.

<blockquote data-quote="BDF" data-source="post: 568736" data-attributes="member: 2764"><p>Well the problem is that I believe that some of those whom have corresponded with retired Nortrop engineers have said that they (Northrop engineers) stated that this launcher design was not what they were planning on using.&nbsp; It is possible they could've circled back to this or a similar design to meet the desire for 6 + 2 configuration.&nbsp; Personally I do agree with others that the weapons bay configuration is a weakness of the design, unless there is a launcher technology we aren't aware of.&nbsp;&nbsp; Its not so much the volume but there are a bunch of constraints that really limit how many AMRAAMs you can realistically carry.&nbsp; The biggest one being the relatively small doors.&nbsp; Notice too how no other designs have followed this approach.&nbsp; The F-35 being somewhat similar in that it too uses a deep bay design but this was mainly driven by the requirement to carry 2Klbs class weapons.&nbsp; Don't get me wrong, I love the F-23 as a design overall but it's weapons bay is a not a design strength.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="BDF, post: 568736, member: 2764"] Well the problem is that I believe that some of those whom have corresponded with retired Nortrop engineers have said that they (Northrop engineers) stated that this launcher design was not what they were planning on using. It is possible they could've circled back to this or a similar design to meet the desire for 6 + 2 configuration. Personally I do agree with others that the weapons bay configuration is a weakness of the design, unless there is a launcher technology we aren't aware of. Its not so much the volume but there are a bunch of constraints that really limit how many AMRAAMs you can realistically carry. The biggest one being the relatively small doors. Notice too how no other designs have followed this approach. The F-35 being somewhat similar in that it too uses a deep bay design but this was mainly driven by the requirement to carry 2Klbs class weapons. Don't get me wrong, I love the F-23 as a design overall but it's weapons bay is a not a design strength. [/QUOTE]

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