Chapter 322: Choice
Of course, Yannick also knew that the development of tactics and technology must complement each other. When guided weapons are not mature, they have to use "old-fashioned" weapons such as machine guns and cannons.
Otherwise, it will be like the US Air Force during the Vietnam War, with air-to-air missiles with a hit rate as bad as no cannons, and the Vietnamese used machine guns to kill them all over the ground.
Shortly after World War II, based on the concept of the German X-4 air-to-air missile, the United States and the Soviet Union developed their own air-to-air missiles, and made great improvements in the guidance method. For example, infrared guidance and radar guidance.
During the Cold War, the most famous infrared-guided missiles were the US military's AIM9B "Sidewinder" and the Soviet Union's K13 "Atoll" air-to-air missiles. Both missiles used uncooled lead sulfide infrared detectors and ultra-small electron tube signal amplifiers, so they could follow enemy fighters for tracking attacks. However, this is slightly clumsy compared to the advanced air-to-air missiles of later generations, and the maximum attack range is only about 3 kilometers. Even the performance of the "Sparrow 1" air-to-air missile with radar semi-active guidance of the US military at the same time is no more than that.
In the 1960s, it was the fastest period of air-to-air missile development, and all the world's military powers had new air-to-air missiles that were updated and replaced. For example, France's Matra R530 and the Soviet Union's R9D Sidewinder air-to-air missiles are improved second-generation air-to-air missiles of the first generation of infrared guidance.
The second generation uses processing technologies such as transistor circuit signals and proximity fuzes, which have unprecedented improvements in stability and strike distance. At this time, radar-guided air-to-air missiles have also developed to the second generation. For example, the US military's Sparrow 3A air-to-air missile has added continuous wave semi-active radar guidance technology compared to the first-generation Sparrow 1.
During this period, air combat weapon designers from all over the world all believed that missiles in future air combat will inevitably replace aircraft gun weapons, and fighter air combat modes will also be simplified. At that time, American fighter designers paid particular attention to this point. For example, the F105 Thunder God and F4 Phantom fighters developed by the US military later did not have close-range aircraft guns installed in the early stage.
It was because the US Air Force was too superstitious about air-to-air missiles that it made a fool of itself in the Vietnam War. Many US pilots who participated in the Vietnam War have experienced such a situation: after the fighter launched an infrared-guided combat missile in an air battle, the air-to-air missile ignored the enemy aircraft and "flew" towards the sun.
This is because the fighters at that time did not have the technology to lock on to a specific infrared source. In layman's terms, the air-to-air missiles at this time would only pursue obvious infrared sources, such as the sun on a sunny day. The obvious infrared source it emitted would attract the air-to-air missile to fly straight. This looks funny, but for US pilots in air battles, they can't laugh anyway.
Some people will say, isn't there a "Sparrow" radar-guided missile? At that time, American pilots would swear when they heard this name. The Sparrow air-to-air missile launch procedure was too complicated, often missing fighter planes, and the hit rate was extremely low. According to statistics, the US Air Force launched a total of 589 missiles during the Vietnam War, and the hit rate was only a pitiful 10%, which means that nearly 530 missiles missed. According to US records: During the Vietnam War, the US military was shot down more than 2,600 fighters.
This shows how much loss and humiliation the US Air Force suffered in the Vietnam War, because the MiG series fighters participating in the war on the Vietnamese side at the same time were equipped with aircraft guns, which often made US fighters flee in embarrassment.
At that time, US fighters were only equipped with short-range combat missiles, and infrared-guided launches often missed, and the radar-guided hit rate was very low (there was no multi-target lock attack, only one to one, and it was semi-active radar guidance, which required fighter pilots to control and guide later, and the fighter was extremely vulnerable to attack at this time). It was okay if the opponent's fighter was relatively stationary, but if you played a little trick in the air, the missile would often miss.
Therefore, when facing air combat, US fighters often launch multiple missiles in a short period of time, and soon they will run out of ammunition and food. At this time, facing fighters with aircraft guns, they have no power to fight back, and can only call for support or flee the battlefield as soon as possible.
The result is obvious. The United States lost a lot of experienced pilots in Vietnam at once, and the remaining pilots cried and asked to put machine gun pods on the aircraft.
But the situation did not improve much after the machine gun pods were installed, because the American opponents had already summed up a set of raid tactics at that time, and the performance of the Phantom was very weak in the face of such raid tactics. But as the saying goes, when God closes a door, he must open another window for you. The Americans suddenly found that the Phantom was very useful for close air support, and it was very cool to bomb ground targets (commonly known as washing the ground).
Correspondingly, the US Navy found that the A4 Skyhawk performed better in low-altitude air combat.
Then a very strange thing happened. The A4 Skyhawk, which was obviously an attack aircraft, chased the Vietnamese MiG with a machine gun, while the F4 Phantom, which was a fighter, was washing the ground crazily.
It was precisely because of the poor performance of the US air-to-air missiles in the Vietnam air war that the US military focused on learning lessons and summarizing experience after the war, and immediately began to develop the third-generation air-to-air missiles. By the 1990s, the US military developed the "Sidewinder" third-generation air-to-air missile, while Russia's R73 and Israel's Python 3 and other third-generation or third-generation and a half missiles were born one after another. These new air-to-air missiles mainly use digital processing technology to enhance the missile's attack capability and anti-interference ability.
The air-to-air missiles at this time can be considered capable of great tasks.
It is only 39 years now, and there is still more than half a century before the 1990s. Even if Yannick's knowledge can greatly promote the development of German science and technology, it will take until the mid-to-late 1960s to make a decent air-to-air missile.
However, Yannick is not sure which one to choose between the MiG-15 and the F-86 Sabre as the main aircraft model of the German Air Force in the future.
At least in his opinion, both the MiG-15 and the F-86 are good aircraft, at least one of the most dazzling stars in the first generation of aircraft.
The MiG-15 seems to have better vertical maneuverability, which shows the deep impression left by the German Eastern Front Air Force on the Russians; the F86 has better horizontal maneuverability and a slightly longer range, which shows the bombing attribute of the United States. The fighter must be able to keep up with the bomber escort.
Therefore, Yannick prefers the F-86 Sabre. After all, Germany will need a long-range escort fighter to escort its strategic bombing in the future. Moreover, in actual combat, the performance of the F-86 is not worse than that of the MiG-15, which is very tempting.
However, the actual combat experience of German fighter pilots is closer to the performance of the MiG-15 fighter. Most German pilots prefer high-altitude and high-speed dives, and the assault style of running after hitting, so after using the MiG-15, the actual combat performance of the German Air Force may be better.
After thinking about it, Yannick simply sorted out the drawings of the two jets and handed them to Messerschmitt; let the pilots choose for themselves.