Good summary TE, but just to clarify, the main issue with the Raptor's quick rail launch method is more the drag penalty rather then the RCS hit, since at WVR, RCS doesn't really matter all that much doors open or closed, the enemy has either already seen you and is dogfighting with you, or he hasn't and you are lining him up for an easy kill.
The biggest issue with the quick rail is in the name - quick rails, afaik, they are designed to be able to open and deploy the missile super quick so the pilot doesn't have to do the whole dogfight with doors open, he just needs to keep the lock for a second or fraction of a second longer than normal for the rails to deploy and missile to lock. That can be helpful in a dogfight against a good opponent in a good plane as every little advantage helps, but in that case, you need to be really thorough with your training and actually open the doors every time you simulate a missile launch in training, because opening those weapons bays and sticking a missile out into the slipstream can have a similar impact on the aircraft as deploying air brakes. If you are doing it in exercises all the time and knows what to expect in all kinds of situations and manoeuvres and how to ride out the drag hit and maintain lock, great. Otherwise you might be in for a some unpleasant shocks if you are fighting for real and experience that kind of sudden drag hit for the first time in a real dogfight.
If you are opening the doors all the time for realistic training experiences, that also presents potential issues in itself, such as additional stress and strain on the doors and surrounding supports. Also, knowing about a quirk is not always the same as being able to deal with it. There might be instances that Raptor pilots have learnt when a lock does not let you get a shot off, as the drag hit will throw the lock. Similar deal if you train to have the doors open throughout, as the drag hit will take a few %age points off of the raptor's turn rates and acceleration.
The issues with sudden, unexpected changes in aircraft handling from doors opening will not go away, and may actually be exacerbated by the introduction of new HMCS and AIM9XII.
But, since you seem to find it troubling that we seem to be on the same page so much lately, I'd thought I'd restore the balance a little and find something to disagree with you about.I question your characterisation of the computers on the F22 as 'supercomputers', iirc, the computers on the F22 might be super fast in comparison to what was on eariler jets, but wach only has about as much processing power as your IPhone 4. Given how long ago the F22 was designed compared to the other 5th gen contenders and factoring in Moore's Law, I really doubt the processing power of the F22 computer is anything to write home about today. For that reason, I don't think the Chinese rail solution has anything to do with the common suggestion on some forums that LOAL is too hard for the Chinese so they opted to stick the whole missile out instead.
LOAL is a cool feature, but one of the issues with it is that the pilot has to keep the bogey in his sights for a few seconds after missile launch to aid the missile get a lock. If he looks away after launch before the missile has established a lock, its a wasted shot. Although pilots have done it since the beginning of air combat and no doubt will continue to do so until the end of manned aero combat, you are trained not to follow a target to confirm a kill as that puts yourself at additional and unnecessary risk. But that is in effect what you are encouraging with LOAL as the pilot has to keep the target in his sights after launch to use his HMCS to continue to direct the missile rather than getting a good look around his aircraft for new threats and targets as he should.
Actually, I doubt there is little more than a rumble when the weapons bays are popped on the f-22, also the projectiles are very slick in and of themselves, I believe that the f-35 was flown to Mach 1.6 with the weapons bay open during some recent testing. As to the lack of computing power on the F-22, thats rather speculative, as the F-22 was so far ahead of its time, and it did indeed pioneer the sophisticated and stealthy data link with other aircraft, and a hardened avionics suit, I believe they are installing block 3.2 to further expand the Raptors capabilities, soooooo this is still the bird you Don't Want to meet,,,, but don't take my word for it.......but on a much more interesting note, Defense Talk has announced that Xi and Vlad have sealed the deal for 24 Su-35s and 4 Lada submarines, 2 built in Russia and 2 built in China, Defense Talk stated that there would be a great deal more cooperation up to an including the F-117s.....my money says they will end up on our bird, so this is an interesting new developement, probably in response to the obvious weakness in our present leadership when it comes to defense-----just for laughs how about Mrs. Pahlin goes to Washington, I'd love to turn her loose on that crowd, happy Easter kids, I hope the Bunny brings you guys a nice chocolate bunny, I'm actually to old for a basket, so I have to mooch candy from my kids and grandkids???? Brat
