In later generations, the only harpoon and tomahawk in the U.S. Navy's arsenal, while the famous Western flying fish missiles are all subsonic.
In contrast, the Soviets and later Russians are actually a lot of supersonic anti-ship missiles. What kind of sunburn, king fish, shipwreck, etc., have a range of hundreds of kilometers, even hundreds of kilometers. , And the speed is above Mach 2, and these missiles are all big ones, weighing several tons.
It seems that the West does not have supersonic anti-ship missiles. If you think so, it is actually not correct.
Before the 1970s, there were no supersonic anti-ship missiles in the West. After the 1970s, the West also began to develop supersonic anti-ship missiles. The main models are the French-German joint research "ANS" (ANS) and the British "Sea Hawk". "And Sweden's RBS-15, etc.
However, the U.S. Navy looks down on it. In their eyes, reliability is more important. Looking at the U.S., it has been using harpoons. It seems that there is no improvement, but the reliability of others is quite high.
But now, it’s not enough to hold the harpoon tightly. The harpoon can only fly more than 100 kilometers, and the Soviet fleet will soon have anti-aircraft cruisers with a range of more than 100, like the Kirov-class nuclear-powered cruisers. It uses the same long-range air defense missile as the land-based S-300, with a range of 100 kilometers at every turn. In the future, if you take a harpoon to attack, it will be beaten before the attack.
The U.S. Navy wants to avoid this embarrassment. It can only continue to develop long-range supersonic anti-ship missiles. This is not a later generation. The U.S. Navy can go wild with big bugs. Without suitable weapons, it will be affected at any time. Hit it.
And when Nathan said so, he also had to prepare in advance. When he found out that the Soviet navy was so sturdy, what would the American aircraft carrier do? Send a carrier plane to commit suicide
However, supersonic anti-ship missiles are all big, how can this be broken
Nathan had already figured out a solution: "Our Tomcat fighter can be carried."
The A-7 attack aircraft is the most powerful attack aircraft in the U.S. Navy. In theory, it can carry up to six tons of ammunition, which sounds like a lot. However, this is the maximum mount mode. An engine has very limited power and has to limit the amount of fuel carried.
These six tons of ammunition are scattered and hung on the aircraft's hanging points. Any ordinary hanging point cannot bear the weight of an anti-ship missile that weighs over a ton, even two or three tons.
The wings are not good, and there is no room under the belly even if it is to be hung. Just look at the look of the big-mouthed monster, and there is no place under the belly at all.
If the US Navy’s weapons and equipment cannot be carried by carrier-based aircraft and take off from an aircraft carrier, will they still belong to the Navy? The air force will laugh out loud.
Petropaoli felt unreliable when he heard Nathan's statement, but Nathan's soft words made him open his mouth.
"Our Tomcat fighter can be mounted, and the wing box can definitely withstand it."
The Tomcat fighter can carry six phoenixes, four under the belly, and two in the wing box. Even if the built anti-ship missile is too big, it is not easy to load under the belly, but the wing box is no problem. .
In the wing box, there is the key device of the variable sweep wing. The strength there is quite high. At the same time, the space in that place is not bad enough to be mounted.
"No, our Tomcat fighters are used to seize air supremacy, and ground-to-ship attacks are not the mission of the Tomcat fighters." Someone immediately objected.
Among fighter pilots, there is also a division of labor and a chain of contempt.
Those who drive fighter jets, look down upon those who drive attack aircraft, those who drive attack aircraft, those who drive transport aircraft, those who drive transport aircraft, those who drive passenger planes, those who drive passenger planes, and those who drive helicopters.
But Nathan’s movies were well-known at the beginning, and the Tomcat fighters were also famous for this. Many young people came to the navy with the idea of driving Tomcats. Now, Tomcats are no longer fighters, and they have to be inferior. How can they feel better after their work
Air combat is air combat and cannot be used to perform such tasks.
Some flying tomcats did not agree with this, and Nathan could only explain patiently.
There is no distinction between high and low in revolutionary work.
"Our America, what is the biggest threat?"
It goes without saying that it is of course the Soviets!
"What is the biggest threat to our Pacific Fleet?"
"The Soviets' Pacific Fleet."
"Then we currently don’t have a suitable carrier-based aircraft to carry anti-ship missiles. Only the Tomcat can use it. You have to refuse to carry supersonic missiles and launch an attack on the Soviet formation because of some vanity in your heart. Our attack aircraft squadron, carrying slow Harpoon missiles, was shot down one after another in the opponent's circle of fire?"
This has to be sensible.
Every life is precious. If you don't take risks, you don't need to take risks. Just because of vanity, the brothers are in desperation. This is not the idea of a mature pilot.
"But, other planes have been improved, can they not be carried?" someone asked again.
"Yes, right now, aren't we developing the F-18? This type of fighter should be able to carry out attack missions." Another said.
Fool, I am doing this now, just to stop the F-18 project. As a Tomcat fan, I am destined to hate big bugs by nature.
(F-18, nicknamed Bumblebee, and in some people’s mouths, it’s more appropriate to call it a big bug.)
In the later generations, it was because of this kind of all-rounder bug that they finally replaced all the Tomcats. They thought they could do it. In fact, they couldn't do anything, but there was no way. The higher-ups just didn't like it.
The retirement of the Tomcat fighter was simply a tragedy. From then on, the US Navy no longer has long-range interception capabilities, and there is no dedicated heavy fighter. After the big bug got on the ship, it actually took on the heavy task.
When it was loaded with ammunition, the big bug that could only rush to the war zone at subsonic speeds was glared by the top of the U.S. Navy. They all missed the Tomcat era. Unfortunately, the Tomcats are gone.
Tomcat died, died in the hands of a group of bureaucrats, died in the hands of short-sighted guys, and for China, it was of course beneficial. When China's navy gradually became stronger, it began to have carrier-based J- The 15 fighter plane, while the U.S. Navy, found that they had nothing in their hands. After the modification, the more bloated bugs were not the opponents of the J-15 at all. The F-35, a general-purpose tri-service aircraft, looks very powerful, but in fact It is also quite sloppy. If the stealth cat is developed on the basis of the Tomcat fighter, it is definitely more suitable than the F-35. (End of this chapter)