It has always been emphasized that STOVL fighter is actually the inevitable and general direction of aviation technology development. First of all, it is because most flying creatures in nature actually take off and land vertically or vertically. From flies, mosquitoes, insects to most birds, we have never seen flying creatures on earth build ground runways for their own convenience. At most, some big birds will use water to glide to help them fly.
In reality, since the Harrier entered service in batches, the whole world immediately realized its suddenness in fighting on land and its comprehensive advantages in fighting at sea. However, all aircraft in vertical take-off and landing and STOVL mode have three major problems: insufficient absolute thrust-to-weight ratio, too short range and too small load, and low safety during take-off and landing.
These three points are also absolute disadvantages compared with the long runway fighters and ejection blocking fighters on the aircraft carrier. However, human technology and ability always spiral upward. With the comprehensive improvement of engine technology and intelligent flight control technology, STOVL fighter will eventually solve three inherent difficulties. Once the thrust-to-weight ratio of the main engine reaches above 15, the problems of insufficient takeoff weight and combat range will be solved.
Because all take-off and landing are non-afterburner modes, the actual thrust is huge, which not only saves fuel, but also flies out of a greatly extended actual combat radius. Once the combat radius of STOVL fighter exceeds 1000 km, compared with most existing first-line fighters, the comprehensive performance gap is not big. This situation can generally be achieved on the 6.5 th generation fighters without waiting for the 7 th generation fighters.
Once so, this 6.5-generation STOVL fighter will immediately show another innate extraordinary ability; That's super mobility directly related to air combat! This ability is almost inherent in some STOVL fighters, and it is basically impossible for non-STOVL fighters to do so. Even non-STOVL fighters can't compete with vector nozzles like F22A and SU35 and advanced flight control software.
And this super maneuverability has been shown almost in the era of sea otters. In the Falklands naval battle of 1982, the sea harrier taking off from a small aircraft carrier shot down more than 10 Argentine fighters, and there was no direct battle damage. First of all, this is of course because Afghan planes have reached the range limit and lack missiles. The main target is British ships. At the same time, it also shows that the harrier does have two brushes in close air combat.
One of the most common air combat maneuvers is that ordinary conventional fighters cannot be killed. For example, once a fighter finds itself locked at six o'clock by its opponent, it is definitely the most dangerous state in air combat. At this time, if you want to get rid of the lock and even fight back, then only two air combat stunts can do it. One is the famous cobra super maneuver. When its fuselage is pulled up more than 90 degrees, it will inevitably slow down greatly. Once the other fighter can't do similar maneuvers, it will rush to the target in an instant.
At this time, the party doing cobra maneuver can lock the enemy plane rushing forward while flattening the nose. However, cobra maneuver requires some necessary conditions, and not all fighters can make this action at any time. The second way is that we suddenly do a backflip and then lock the opponent at the same time. This is how F 14 in Top Gun shot down the last so-called MiG -28.
But backflip is more complicated and difficult than cobra maneuver, and it is almost a miracle to be able to do it in actual combat. But for the sea otter, once bitten by another plane, it will brake suddenly and slow down, and at the same time, its body will translate horizontally, which is equivalent to "letting go" the tail-biting opponent in front of it at once; Then the missile can be locked and launched immediately.
The sea otter is a pure translator, and the nose orientation has not changed. The process of locking is much more efficient than the so-called cobra and backflip. There is also a patented STOVL model of a certain unit, and the front small engine works like a sea otter all the way. Therefore, it is completely possible to make a super translation maneuver similar to the sea otter. I am afraid that all enemy planes will be at a loss in air combat.
This is just one of the super air combat maneuvers that can be completed in full power STOVL mode. The front fan mode of F35B cannot run synchronously at high speed. It can be seen that the patented design of a certain army is more in line with future actual combat. The development of STOVL mode is to move freely in space like a flying saucer.