Daryl Hunt
Your Worst Nightmare
- Banned
- #1
Here is an interesting concept. And no, the F-35 cannot do the job at this time. Not because of the Aircraft but the lack of a guidance system on a long enough ranged missile.
Yes, the F-35 is capable of knocking down an ICBM during the first 330 seconds of flight. But they are going to have to be close since the Aim-9X has a less than 23 miles kill range. I wouldn't want to be in ANY aircraft that far into North Korea.
Let's play a whatif. What if they mixed the Aim-9X with the Aim-120D. Give the Aim-120D the capability of using Heat Seeking as well. Not a huge stretch of the imagination. That would give the missile the range and then some considering a F-35 could launch just outside of North Korean Air Space and hit a target almost all the way across North Korea. And instead of the low speed of Mach 2.5 for the Aim-9X, the modified Aim-120D would have a speed of over Mach 4. Are they working on this now? I don't know.
Yes, the F-35 is capable of knocking down an ICBM during the first 330 seconds of flight. But they are going to have to be close since the Aim-9X has a less than 23 miles kill range. I wouldn't want to be in ANY aircraft that far into North Korea.
Let's play a whatif. What if they mixed the Aim-9X with the Aim-120D. Give the Aim-120D the capability of using Heat Seeking as well. Not a huge stretch of the imagination. That would give the missile the range and then some considering a F-35 could launch just outside of North Korean Air Space and hit a target almost all the way across North Korea. And instead of the low speed of Mach 2.5 for the Aim-9X, the modified Aim-120D would have a speed of over Mach 4. Are they working on this now? I don't know.