In 1998 a little known student published a thesis that was to haunt the F-22  as he presented a few real problems with the plane (aside from the electronics and LockMart nusmanagement that is) that was going to bite the USAF and cause a lot of YF-23 defenders to shake their heads and say, "we told you so.".

 

Thesis.... 

 

It all came down to physics in the end as in SIZE of weapons carried.

 

 

The Marine rehashed what was written here... with a much more critical spin.

 

 

 

The F-22 was physically limited:

a. the electronic CIP architecture was limited and in the course of time shown not to be upgradeable.

b. the chief  complaint was the internal weapon bays.*

 

Suppose I wanted to carry a HARM 88E or a "short" derivative of STANDARD as a SEAD or TEL killer. 

 

Why would I want to do that?

 

Look at the likely threat as we head into the first third of the 21st Century. On the off chance that we have to fight a near term war in the Middle East or the Western Pacific, the chuef threat to US air forces is not the Sukhois yet. Its the TELs, SAMS  and the radars that exist or soon will exist in those areas. The F-22 just doesn't have the length  as well as volume in its launcher compartments to take an internal HARM or big FAST air to ground missile that can opportunity hit a mobile radar or missile launcher beyond that SAM effective coverage.    

 

But it can get in close with small diameter bombs or JDAMS goes the argument. True, but the Strile Eagle can strike a target set faster in a single intrusion pass, with large Mach 4 standoff rockets using a radar targeting sustem more advanced for that (HARM) solution than the F-22 cheaper and it was designed for it.

 

AIM 120 C is 12 feet long... 

 

AGM-88 is 13 feet 6 inches lon... 

 

This is the F-22 weapon bay limitation;

=================================================

Source: ... 

 

quote:

 

  F-35 JSF Weapon Carriage Capacity

---

Does the Joint Strike Fighter have an internal gun? What are the weapon loads? It does not seem to have as much internal space as the F-22.
- question from Nicholas

The primary purpose of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter... (JSF) is to fulfill the ground attack duties now performed by aircraft like the F-16 Fighting Falcon..., F-18 Hornet..., and AV-8B Harrier.... In other words, the JSF is often referred to as a "bomb truck" that will attack ground targets once the skies have been cleared of any enemy fighter threat by dedicated air superiority fighters like the F-22 Raptor... and F-15 Eagle....

The biggest driver behind the overall design of the JSF is affordability. The military needs to purchase a large quantity of this class of aircraft to complement larger and more capable planes like the F-22 and F-18E/F Super Hornet... that are too expensive to buy in large quantities.

It is these two factors--its mission as a ground attack platform and the need for low cost--that largely dictate the size, layout, and weapons carriage capabilities of the F-35.

X-35 research plane and prototype for the F-35 JSF

Since the F-35 is primarily intended to be a replacement for the F-16, it is not surprising that the JSF is of roughly the same overall dimensions as the older craft. The F-22, by comparison, is much larger and comparable in size to the F-15 that it was designed to replace. The overall sizes of the F-16, F-22, and the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) version of the F-35 that will be purchased by the US Air Force are compared below.

Comparison of the F-16, F-35, and F-22

It is also not surprising that the weapons to be carried by both the F-35 an

Forum software just ate a huge post I made wondering about the applicability of this to carrier landings.

The upshot: could an airframe the length of an A-3 and shape of a YF-23 be made to maintain the 3 degree glide onto a pitching deck at under 150 mph with such high-alpha shaping, TVC, avionics?

 

What about a C-2 followon? 

 

Design by comittee and a management system where you have to bribe the manager to leave you alone long enough to actually get some work done.