Blackbird From United States, joined Oct 1999, 3333 posts, RR: 5 Posted (2 months 3 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1454 times:
Okay, the F-15 to the best of my knowledge was designed for intermediate speed (300-600 kts?) at transonic-speeds ideally... What's the optimum speed range / mach for the F-16 assuming it's not classified?
Jgarrido From Guam, joined Mar 2007, 175 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (2 months 2 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 1304 times:
Well when I was messing around with Falcon 4.0 the computer game, the manual stated conering velocity was between 330 and 440 kts. At that speed you had the tightest turn radius and fastest turn rate w/o the computer stepping in and limiting the the control surfaces to keep you from over g'ing.
I know it's just a video game, but since no one has responded in the 36 hrs I thought I'd chime in.
SEPilot From United States, joined Dec 2006, 2928 posts, RR: 8 Reply 3, posted (2 months 2 weeks 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 1285 times:
Quoting Blackbird (Reply 2): I thought the F-16 was better at higher airspeeds than the F-15 was
This would surprise me if true. My impression is that the F-16 was designed as a low-cost option to the F-15; I would expect the F-15 to outperform the F-16 in almost all aspects. The only advantage that the F-16 might have is maneuverability, it being substantially lighter, but I have no real knowledge on the subject.
The problem with making things foolproof is that fools are so doggone ingenious...
Blackbird From United States, joined Oct 1999, 3333 posts, RR: 5 Reply 4, posted (2 months 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 1209 times:
SEPilot,
Quote: This would surprise me if true. My impression is that the F-16 was designed as a low-cost option to the F-15; I would expect the F-15 to outperform the F-16 in almost all aspects. The only advantage the F-16 might have is maneuverability, it being substantially lighter, but I have no real knowledge on the subject.
To the best of my knowledge the F-15 and F-16 were both spawned out of the FX-program.
-> The F-16 was originally created because Col. Boyd had doubts as to the F-15 fearing it might become another F-4 and wanted a design like the MiG-21 which had caused a great-deal of grief in Vietnam. The design later on evolved into a small flying bomb-truck with the ability to, in an air to air capacity, be a lightweight dogfighter (MiG-21 like).
-> It was ultimately used to complement the F-15 because the Eagle was turning into a highly-expensive super-fighter, and it was too expensive to produce in large enough numbers, so to produce the desired numbers, they needed a cheaper airplane to complement it. There were some who wanted to do the F-15 in altogether and just use F-16's as well, although the Air Force managed to prevent this.
->Also, due to a number of reasons, weight restrictions and politics, the F-15 was stripped of it's Air to Ground capability, leaving just the F-16 with air to ground capability.
Instinctively, I would assume the F-16 having a heavier wing-loading and super-maneuverability, it would be particularly good at higher airspeed in terms of sustained G's (heavier wing-loading works better at high IAS in regards to sustained G's as higher speed equals higher drag, and supermaneuverability allows improved sustained G's with a bigger wing at higher speeds). I would assume the F-15 would be better at intermediate airspeeds in regards of sustained-G's. The supermaneuverability, would probably give the F-16 a quick edge at low-speed in a twisting and turning fight... the ability to jack the alpha up real high, turn in and *POW* end the engagement.
However, I am not 100% certain, which is why I'm asking here...
Regarding speed, the F-15 seems almost certainly a great deal faster than the F-16, as it was designed to be able to keep up with a MiG-25, where as the F-16 was not designed for such speeds and would probably be more comparable with an F-104.
SEPilot From United States, joined Dec 2006, 2928 posts, RR: 8 Reply 5, posted (2 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1084 times:
Quoting Blackbird (Reply 4): Regarding speed, the F-15 seems almost certainly a great deal faster than the F-16, as it was designed to be able to keep up with a MiG-25, where as the F-16 was not designed for such speeds and would probably be more comparable with an F-104.
Blackbird-thanks for the more detailed info. I did not know a lot about the origins of the F-15 and F-16; I appreciate the addition to my knowledge. The performance of both the F-15 and F-16 in actual use has proven both of them to have been outstanding designs.
The problem with making things foolproof is that fools are so doggone ingenious...
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