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Originally posted by Daedalus3
But when any a/c encounter hostiles requiring WVR merge early on during mission clock, then I think it would be prudent for it to detach all the external 'heavies' (fuel pods, non-WVR missiles/mud-moving munitions) and reprofile its loadout for high-G WVR combat.
The MKI can do most of its hi-g combat manuevering with full loadouts w/o losing much, though there is a definite loss of 'smoothness' in manuevering.
Also fuel tanks with asymmetric amounts of fuel may contribute to the lack of smoothness but I guess only pilots would be able to give testament to that.
As for supersonic TVC manueverability; I believe the MKI can do whatever the Raptor can in the 'pitching' vertical axis at rated speeds esp since this axis is more forgiving towards the airframe at supersonic speeds(and it is the only TVC axis available to the Raptor).
However carrying out 'yawing' and 'rolling' TVC manuevers at supersonic speeds would be quite demanding on the airframe due to asymmetric forces on the wings.
air·craft
–noun, plural -craft.
any machine supported for flight in the air by buoyancy or by the dynamic action of air on its surfaces, esp. powered airplanes, gliders, and helicopters.