Yeah but why would you risk it? In the modern BVR environment, stealth as well as speed are life. Both USAF and PLAAF understand this. There's a reason why the Raptor and J-20 are both meant to supercruise
H-20 bomber (with H-X, JH-XX)
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
Why not?
B-21 and PAK DA at least are both known to be BVRAAM carriers.
You're gravely misunderstanding what I said. It's not that subsonic aircraft can't carry BVRAAMs, it's that being supersonic increases both your probability of kill for a long-range missile AND helps you survive against any incoming missiles the enemy may have managed to launch. The former and latter are not mutually exclusive. This is why dedicated BVR/Air Superiority platforms like the F-22 or the J-20 are capable of supercruise.
Above everything else it's positioning, especially with reach-limited main armament.
But the original post I answered was about it being crucial to self escort capability. Which it arguably isn't really the case, you can self escort and ambush on a subsonic platform quite well, too.
Especially if you use draggier, thicker VLRAAMs, for whom H0 is very clearly more important than V0.
But it is; you don't think running away at Mach 1.6 after lobbing BVRAAMs at your enemy from 100 miles away is gonna be helpful, compared to running away at Mach 0.7? We had an entire operational aircraft whose sole survival technique against long-range SAMs and BVRAAMs was to speed up and run as fast as possible. That mechanic still works today.
