Subsonic fighters carrying long range AAM

[dy031101]

Besides, I believe the F6D carried six missiles underwing while the Intruder derivative only carried four.

There are six on the model of the Intruder derivative as well.

Nevertheless, the point is taken.

Also, F6D has a crew of three, which would probably work better for a long loiter time flight than the 2-man crew (there was not the slightest sign of additional seating) of the Intruder derivative, too.  Last but not least, would the Intruder derivative have benefited from a new wing design?

[elmayerle]

Besides, I believe the F6D carried six missiles underwing while the Intruder derivative only carried four.

There are six on the model of the Intruder derivative as well.

Nevertheless, the point is taken.

Also, F6D has a crew of three, which would probably work better for a long loiter time flight than the 2-man crew (there was not the slightest sign of additional seating) of the Intruder derivative, too.  Last but not least, would the Intruder derivative have benefited from a new wing design?

Yeah, the Intruder might have, but that would've upped both risk and cost as well as stretched out development.  Now, if the Prowler airframe was available, I could see that would similarly work better for the long loiter time.  For a bit more modern take on this concept, how about a variant of the two-seat A-10 airframe with a large air-air radar replacing the cannon?

[gunfighter]

Yesterday I got this month´s AFM. It includes an overview on the B-2 bomber as it has been in service for 20 years by now. I was impressed by the VERY long missions they perform, with some exceeding 50 hours. How can TWO pilots bear that? Do they have beds on the plane? Anyway, I recalled this thread and thought about the posibility of a B2 interceptor. The recipient unit would be the 57FIS, and the plan as follows: imagine that world war III starts, and the russians send their hordes of backfires in search of the NATO ships. Our B2 is loitering undetected over the north sea, and as the Backfires pass by her, she unleashes a cloud of phoenixs or AMRAAMs. The russians beguin to explode and they cannot even know what´s happening. Sure the Spirit could carry lots of missiles, and could also fly for hours and hours in the pace of the red bombers. Now you need a B2 in 57 FIS colours and an air superiority scheme...

[elmayerle]

Yesterday I got this month´s AFM. It includes an overview on the B-2 bomber as it has been in service for 20 years by now. I was impressed by the VERY long missions they perform, with some exceeding 50 hours. How can TWO pilots bear that? Do they have beds on the plane? Anyway, I recalled this thread and thought about the posibility of a B2 interceptor. The recipient unit would be the 57FIS, and the plan as follows: imagine that world war III starts, and the russians send their hordes of backfires in search of the NATO ships. Our B2 is loitering undetected over the north sea, and as the Backfires pass by her, she unleashes a cloud of phoenixs or AMRAAMs. The russians beguin to explode and they cannot even know what´s happening. Sure the Spirit could carry lots of missiles, and could also fly for hours and hours in the pace of the red bombers. Now you need a B2 in 57 FIS colours and an air superiority scheme...

Well, the B-2 cockpit includes both galley and toilet facilities, so it's not quite as bad.  I'm not certain how many missiles a B-2 could carry in its two weapons bays, but I seem to remember that each CSRL can carry eight missiles, at least, so there's a quantity of 16 missiles right there.  It'd take some software changes to allow the B-2's radar to function in the air-to-air intercept modes, but I don't think it's impossible.  You could probably also add a second RIO in the third seat position that's normally open.

[retro_seventies]

I was just flicking through some Intruder info that i have, and was looking at the A-6F....

...apart from being a reasonably simple and credible whiff, it was also able to carry AMRAAMs.  Total hardpoints were up from the A-6E's five, to a total of seven...

Allowing gasbags for range and loiter, it's entirely feasible that an 8 x AMRAAAM armed A-6F would have been able to form a credible screen for the fleet.  Back it up with QRA Tomcats and/or Hornets and things are looking pretty promising...