Howdy Van, (I wanted to ask, is that your first name or part of your last name?)
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So why don't AWACS planes get shot down all the time?
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Because we've never used them against anybody with a real airforce in a shooting war.Because each one has at least half a squadron defending it anytime its even close to hostile territory. And lastly a measurable portion of its electronics suite is defensive in nature.
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Hundreds of miles range, and it doesn't work alone. It's the weapon. It doesn't have to have the sensors. This isn't meant to be at the front lines, but to take out theater ballistic missiles.
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I actually thought of that myself, I used to be in NAVAIR so I know about layered defense. I was commenting on the article insinuating its stand alone features. It would just be something else that would suck up fighter assets that could be, well, killing enemy missile crews or their defenders.
And a so so weapons idea that has the potential to horribly kill its crew on the chance of an even moderate failure is never going to be popular. Gee whiz factor or not. Then there is the knucklehead groundcrew men who would be dissolving themselves or others every other week.
I think a hyper velocity missile would be a much better use of research dollars. You don't have to invent a whole new technology and logistics infrastruture. I've seen some amazing footage of same back when they were considered for ballistic missile defense.
(Oh by the way, Van, I'm not hostile or nothing. I have the next three days off so I've been sipping whisky a little bit
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