[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

Heavily supported by a tanker? That is interesting given that it doesn't need to be. Almost 1900 nmi range on that thing without drop tanks. Maybe they always like a full gas tank so that they could turn and burn longer.

Maybe. But I'm saying what will be in Riccioni's mind. Its ferry is 2000 statute miles, which is reasonable - it really has a comparable fuel load with a Su-27 which is credited with as much as 4000 kilometers, but with a fixed intake for stealth. Fixed intakes for subsonic aircraft typically max out around Mach 1.8, and the F-22 supposedly can hack ~2.4 - the only way I can see this happening is to readjust the fixed intake closer to the setting a variable intake would assume at high supersonic, but that will no doubt do "wonders" to its subsonic fuel efficiency (still the more efficient form). The supercruise part of its 400NM combat radius is only 100NM, which pretty much means that after every intercept they'll feel like refuelling.

PS. American doctrine and F-22 doctrine put the ideal scenario at BVR. This is not by chance, this is how the F-22 plays the game. Close, you can not only see it, but it is vulnerable to SR AA missiles. The F-22 in my opnion can probably wipe every last fighter from the sky using hit and run tactics using BVR, and there isn't a damn thing an enemy can do about it.

When I said "the game is fought using American assumptions", I didn't just mean the part where they do BVR - that's tactics, not really an assumption. For example, they fight assuming the radar will not be tracked. It apparently really doesn't show on current American RWRs, but it is a 20kW emission that's ultimately all in the X-band, so assuming it won't show on all equipment is kind of a Maignot Line mentality. The simulated enemy does not have heat-tracking sensors either. So it becomes a radar on radar fight, which is the sensor least capable of detecting the F-22!