Okay...but in such discussions, you might want to add a "/sacarsm," tag so people can be sure.
This makes zero sense.
On one hand you say internal bays decrease drag and helps with stealth...which is true...but then on the other you say that the additional internal volume negates that advantage.
Of curse...it does not. The stealth advantage is still present.
Aircraft without the internal bay and the stealth features, still have to carry the weapons...and their volume...except now it is on the outside and therefore increases their drag, and increases their observability.
It also causes them to pay a price in maneuverability.
In fact, an otherwise excellent maneuvering airframe is the one whose maneuverability is hurt by the weapons he must carry externally.
You keep pointing to bombers and large attack aircraft. Why is this issue even being raise on this thread? This is an Air Combat Maneuverability thread and it for fighters and strike fighters.
The fact is the F-22 is the best air superiority fighter on the planet. Why? Because of its 5th generation capabilities that are coupled with an excellent airframe.
it is an unbelievably good blend of those features.
Whether you or others like it or not, the F-35 is also going to be an excellent blend.
The F-22's blend was optimized for air superiority.
The F-35s blend I optimized for strike.
But both of them are going to do very well in opposing other aircraft because they have the blend, and that blend is coupled with their 5th generation features. Together, they will allow them to dominate other opposing 4th and 4,.5 generation aircraft.
Does that mean they will win every time? No, of course not.
Does that meant hey are invincible? No, of course not.
But it does meant hat the combinations of features are being recognized by Air Force professionals and analysts the world over as a VERY desirable thing.
That is why China is building their own 5th generation aircraft. It is why Russia is doing the same. It is why Japan has embarked on a similar program, and the South Koreans want to too. It is also why so many western allied nations are buying the F-35...including Japan and South Korea.
The people making these decisions know what they are doing...whether the Chinese, the Russians, the US or its allies.
Anyhow, not all of those features lend themselves to the absolute optimum dog fighter. But they have enough of that capability, when coupled with those other features to ensure that unless they are up against similar 5th generation capabilities...or some blend of them...they will persevere.
The French recognize this and though the Rafale is nt considered a 5th gen fighter, they have tried to include some of those features in their aircraft which allows it to be (at least IMHO) one of the premier 4.5" gen aircraft.
I would say that the Advanced Super Hornet (for the F/A-18E/F), the F-15 2040C (for the F-15C) and F-15 SA (for the F-15E) are programs that do the same thing with those designs.
i will tell you why you do not get it, you do not want i will explain you why it negates the advantages.
F-15 and F-22, simple example the F-15 is lighter at empty weight, tell me why? do you want the answer? the weapons bays yes my friend they add weight. Another example F-111B and F-14 why the F-111B that carried two AIM-54 internally was heavier and larger at empty weight?
Answer again, the internal weapons bays, tell me why?
answer when you do not carry weapons bays, that space that the weapons bay create internally is gone, so its weigh its gone, its structure is gone.
Do you get it? now one more time, if you add size to your fuselage you add weight, example F-106 versus Mirage III, MIrage III was a 15 meters long, F-106 was 21 meters and much much heavier, at empty weight, tell me why? yes if you get it it had an internal weapons bay.
If you are heavier the force your aircraft experiments as structure at 7Gs is higher, if you are longer the structure becomes weaker then your aircraft suffers more problems internally to withstand high Gs.
Example F-111B, became a strike aircraft, F-14 a fighter, however F-14 is much much heavier than F-15 do you know why? yes of course it has a swing wing structure.
If you have a larger plane you have more air resistance, example F-16 versus F-35, the F-16 does not carry side weapons bays thus it has a smaller frontal cross section, the F-16 then has a smaller wetted area.
Why tell me if all aircraft designers since WWI could carry things internally why they decided to put things outside? answer they wanted to create smaller aircraft, smaller aircraft are lighter, lighter aircraft use less powerful engines, their structure is proportionally stronger, easier to make, cheaper .
Since 1944 there were air to air weapons Germany had them, the R4M, since the early 1950s you got lighter AIM-9s and the Russians AA-1 Alkali, they were carried outside the airplane tell me why? answer first is the guidance problem, second the space problem if you carry all internally you make larger planes.
Why then since WWI only larger aircraft had weapons bays, answer engine position, in WWII all the aircraft using weapons bays were attack aircraft like B-29, Me-410, B-17 these were twin or four engine aircraft using the wings as th place they fit the engines so putting weapons internally made sense engines already created drag, fuselages were big, weapons bays made sense.
same is the jet era; in WWII, the Avenger for example was fatter than the hellcat or P-51 so avenger was not a fighter not even like the p-38 or Me-110 but Avenger had a weapons bay
What is advantage of weapons bay? stealth yes that is the advantage, why if the wing does not carry weapons fighters did not use weapons bays since WWI and only few examples had them ?answer size, weight and drag larger aircraft have more air resistance drag.
The F-14 became what the F-111B never was a dogfighter, F-14 could tangle with MiG-23, F-111 never was used as a fighter..
Then why F-22 being heavier is good aircraft answer? Thrust vectoring.
Why then Eurofighter and Rafale have beaten F-22? answer F-22 has no helmet mounted sight neither AIM-9X.
So when Rafale flies against the F-22, the RAPTOR has to fly on wings and engine alone it can not cue the AIM-9Ls via a helmet mounted sight.
Rafale has no thrust vectoring but can dogfight against the Raptor on equal conditions, because Rafale is a pure aerodynamics design with very little yield to stealth
And yes internal weapons bays are good for stealth but not good for drag
