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I think they would have relied upon the Century-series until the lessons of Vietnam propelled the -15 and -16 production anyway.
Defense budgets in the 60s had a large chunk taken up by the operational expenses in Vietnam, and McNamara was all about efficiencies, so I'm not sure he'd okay yet another program, especially once the F-111 grew to be a money-hog. I doubt the Air Force could afford the -111, a hypothetical F-14 to replace the aging fighters, on top of developing the -15 and -16.
The F-4 was too useful and could hold the tide while the 4G fighters were being developed. Why insert another piece into the puzzle, is my opinion -- and that's all it is.
I think of all the practical alternatives, the F8U-3 had the most potential in the air-to-air role. Perhaps combined with the F-105 as a ground-pounder and F-106 as a specialized interceptor, the Air Force could get buy until the mid-1970s when the F-15 and F-16 would become available.
Yeah, I figure that would have been the most likely scenario: More F-106's and F-105's would have been procuredThe USAF had been planning to buy more F-106As to equip some of TAC's fighter squadrons that were assigned air-combat duties (as opposed to the F-100 & F-105 units that were primarily ground-attack squadrons).
Prior to the F-4? I do remember in Vietnam there was some looking into the idea of fitting a gunpack to the F-106 (which was ultimately done, IIRC, in the 1970's)There was even discussion of an improved fighter-killer version of the F-106
Isn't that for the Navy? In the OP it's the USAF that's not getting the Phantom. No mention of the navy.
Isn't the F-108 chasing the same long-range, high-speed interceptor dead end as the CF-105. The USAF needs a multirole fighter, something like the role the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was undertaking at the time, but with twin engines, two-seats and excellent radar-guided missile capability.I suspect that North American's F-108 proposal may have had a chance, if the AF did not purchase the F-110 (F-4).
"Needed" but didn't fully understand what it was going to take and the F-Wonderlemon (111) at the time wasn't going to cut it. The F-108 would have gone through hefty re-design.The USAF needs a multirole fighter, something like the role the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was undertaking at the time, but with twin engines, two-seats and excellent radar-guided missile capability.
Unlikely because the F-108 was cancelled in 1959 and McNamara forced the F-4 on the USAF in 1962.I suspect that North American's F-108 proposal may have had a chance, if the AF did not purchase the F-110 (F-4).
Oops, my bad.Unlikely because the F-108 was cancelled in 1959 and McNamara forced the F-4 on the USAF in 1962.
Still the case that the F-108 had been canceled 3 years before the USAF ever considered the F-4, so it would still be out of the running.Oops, my bad.
I thought the thread was titled:
"If the USAF would not have chosen a version of the Navy's F4 Phantom as its primary fighter through 1960s to mid-1970s, what would it have chosen?"
Why not just put bombs on the F-106?I would expect that if the F-110/F-4 hadn't been adopted, then we'd have built more F-105's for bombing and F-106's as fighters. Perhaps we might have taken some of the lessons of the Dassault Mirage series, especially from the later IAI variants, the Nesher and Kfir?