Simviation Forums

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/03/ntyph03.xml
Should have had this capability from the start.

They saved the money from the last new aircraft in service. The Harrier GR5, nice gun pods, but remain empty to this day  :(

Matt

Didn't they learn anything from the F-4?  This is the exact same story.

I seem to remember one of the BAE SYSTEMS pilots at a talk in the late 90s saying that really the gun question was irrelevant - it may be able to fire 1700 rounds per minute, but with the space in the airframe all the rounds would be exhausted in a matter of seconds...

Give the pilot a revolver.

I wonder how much all that cost. What a complete waste of time & taxpayers money. Still, what's new?

That 1957 White Paper has a lot to answer for.

Didn't they learn anything from the F-4?  This is the exact same story.

Exactly.  It will never cease to amaze me the blatant errors that are repeated again... and again... and again... and again...

Exactly.  It will never cease to amaze me the blatant errors that are repeated again... and again... and again... and again...

It is called reinventing the wheel.
A Wheel alive.

It is called reinventing the wheel.

I wonder if anyone said that when the rubber tire was invented...

Glad to hear that they can now use the cannons though. Like others have said, it is clear that guns are still usefull in fighter aircraft.

I wonder if anyone said that when the rubber tire was invented...

Glad to hear that they can now use the cannons though. Like others have said, it is clear that guns are still usefull in fighter aircraft.

I think it's all a bit of a whinge really. Considering missile technology now compared to 30-40 years ago, with things like ASRAAM we are well equipped. I think someone may have also nb'd that we probably will never use it anyway...

For a Harrier though, no gun is inexcusable.

For a Harrier though, no gun is inexcusable.

That's what "jobs for the boys" produce. There were several of the shelf options, but no, wheel and reinvention yet again


Matt

WHEN WILL THEY LEARN?

You can pack a plane full of advanced avionics and load it up with as many missiles as you want, but the gun is still the most important weapon

It has to be said that the gun will still be an effective weapon intill something is invented to replace it that does the same job.

WHEN WILL THEY LEARN?

You can pack a plane full of advanced avionics and load it up with as many missiles as you want, but the gun is still the most important weapon

Most important?  I don't know about that.  Important yes, but not most important.  Design a plane without a gun that's able to cary all the modern ordenance and you have a useful but flawed weapons platform.  Design a plane that only has a gun and you have a big expensive target.