Delete comment from: Elements Of Power
I wanted to update some figures off my last post. My back of a napkin calculations were a little rough so I rounded high to give the F-35 the benefit of the doubt next to the F-16. I ran more precise calculations and you're looking at a combat weight of 34,500 lbs for an F-16 blk 60 loaded with 7,000 lbs internal fuel and 3,000 lbs in its CFT's, along with (4) AMRAAM's, (2) wingtip rails, & (2) underwing pylon assemblies. This gives you a thrust to weight ratio of .94 fully fueled and armed. Also, the drag off the wingtip rails is less and while I don't have exact figures for the transonic drag of the CFT's I likely estimated high when I gave a total drag index of 50. It is likely substantially less. So I would imagine that, apples to apples, an F-16 block 60 configured for air-to-air combat will outperform an identically configured F-35A. Like I said, I think realistically the proper comparison should be made to the F/A-18 Super Hornet.
Feb 27, 2015, 2:28:09 PM
Posted to The F-35 and the Infamous Transonic Acceleration ‘Spec’ Change: