is the tomact any good?

[D-Scythe]

All the supercruising in the world doesnt mean anything if you cant land onboard the boat again when you get home, thats assuming you didnt get to pop off your Fox 3's. Thats 4 very heavy, Mk. 54 drag slugs you're hauling back, figure thats in excess of 4000 pounds of dead weight you're bringing back.

 

There's a limit to how much weight you can bring back aboard the boat, and 4000 pounds of weight is quite a bit of fuel. So..assume you're already somewhat fuel critical...now, you're bringing back 4 unused -54's that are holding up alot of weight.

 

See the picture? The F-14D (CLEAN) may have been able to supercruise once the burners pushed it past Mach 1, but true supercruising implies being able to break the speed of sound without AB. No aircraft, thus far, besides a VERY clean (IE no pylons and very low fuel) F-15A(barely past Mach, like Mach 1.05), T-38(same) , F-22 or Typhoon can do.

 

But, with a aircraft launch weight of in excess of 68,000 pounds, it would take insane kinds of engine power to get that to super cruise.

 

Dont get me wrong, the F-14B and D were very fast and very capable, but it wasnt the invincible god some claim it to be.

 

The -229 powered F-15E can supercruise pretty easily without its CFTs and LANTIRN.

 

And no, the Typhoon does NOT fit your definition of supercruise. It cannot break Mach without AB. Once it's supersonic, it can chop the burners and cruise along at something like Mach 1.3.

[Poopskadoop]

I understand the sound barrier literally imposes a physical constraint on the aircraft? It's interesting that breaking through it with AB and then powering down to full mil allows one to maintain a speed > M1. We don't seem to have this ability in lock on. Or is it only a handful of aircraft that can do that?

[GGTharos]

You have a buildup of particles in front of the aircraft in the transonic area (so around M1) and below and above that pressure wave is not as much of a factor any more in terms of friction.