Originally posted by diefaster
The US has a history of "reacting" to Russian technology, as opposed to being on the cutting edge. The F/A 22 is no different.
Don't make me laugh. The US is THE cutting edge. Period. The Raptor is the superior plane. Period. The Russians are still waiting for their first
stealth aircraft, the US has 3, with a 4th under development (F-117, B-2, F-22, F-35 JSF). The US holds the record of fastest plane (SR-71). The US
has a "history" as you put it, of making the very best planes.
The F-15 is a classic example. It has never lost in A2A combat. The F-16 is still regarded as the greatest light aircraft ever made. The F-14 was the
greatest interceptor ever made. The SR-71 is the greatest spy plane ever made. The B-2 is the greatest bomber ever made.
Notice the trend here?
One of the great selling points is its directional thrust. Its nozzles can be directed by the Automatic Flight Control System 30 degrees up or
down.
Now compare this to the S-37. The Su-37 has 360 degree nozzle position. This, combined with its forward canards make it very very agile. I have seen
video of the Su-37 at almost 0 airspeed pointing straight up. This would make other fighters stall immediately, even the F-22.
This is all well and good, but for real world situations it has no bearing. The Su-47 would never see the F-22, while the F-22 would sit back and
launch an AMRAAM at BVR, let it's radar guide the missle (so that the S-37 would never know a missle was even launched) and get an easy kill. Yeah -
I said it. An EASY kill.
The days of the dogfight are done. It is obsolete when you can sit back undetected and fire missles with over a 90% kill ratio miles away.
That being said, the Raptor can still dogfight, and do it with the best of them.
Remember, the Raptor can maintain an UNLIMITED 60 degree AoA - something no Russian aircraft can do. This is much more usefull in real world
dogfighting then a Russian cobra or super cobra (which by the way can only be done with a half empty tank of fuel and no missles).