I have seen comments over and over saying traditional dogfights are over, but don’t most pilot training programs still emphasize dogfight training? The F-35 is also still very much an agile plane. If dogfights are in the past, why are modern stealth fighters not just large missile/bomb/drone trucks built to emphasize payload?
In: Engineering
The F-35 is not so agile a plane as the one it’s replacing, in many respects.
However, even if it was a real dog of a thing (it’s not), you’d still train BFM in it. For one, it’s an important foundational skill. Other skills are taught which build on what you learn from that, so even if we could guarantee you’d never need those skills, you’d still learn them anyway.
But then, you can’t guarantee they’ll never be needed. It’s all well and good to say “dogfights are in the past” but it’s not a very convoluted situation to imagine a fight WVR where BFM/ACM decides things.
Latest Answers