Quote:
Originally Posted by wild_weasel
It was the XB-70. It was scrapped after an F-104 crashed into it during a photo-op flight. Plus, what is the point of a Mach 3 bomber? You cant drop anything out of it at those speeds during the days before guided munitions. And even if they were guided, do YOU want to drop LIVE ordnance into a Mach 3 freestream where air friction creates temperatures hot enough to melt lead (and thats a COOL temperature at those speeds, just think of a leading edge of a bomb fin). I think dropping HE into that hot of an environment is a bit...shall we say...risky.
I know the point was to dash in, and dash out, but...news flash...SAMs are faster than you and always will be, so when your bomb bays are open being a giant radar reflector, I'm fairly certain a SAM can get you before you close up and get too far.
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that's why TF (terrain following) was invented. . .you fly in at mach 200 ft above ground lvl below mountains. reach the target area slow down fast drop your munitions and book it out of there. some bombers and fighters do it.
SAMS are easy to trick and aren't as fast as you are making them out to be. at MACH 3 they'd have very little chance to lock on and fire before you are out of range. especially if you're doing TF. IF they did fire a SAMs are very fast traveling at mach 4-8 depending on the type of SAM. But by the time it's fired with the EW systems there are today the plane would know what's coming and already have counter measures in use.
Give me a Mach 3 bomber with TF and advanced EW and I'll show you a plane that's hard to find and take out.