Seaplane Fighters No Runways to be Destroyed dynmicpara

[SDK2584]

Just letting my imagination run wild here...The Soviets used rocket boosters to launch fighters from trucks (without runways) during the cold-war. Using similar methods it may be possible to launch the seadart from a rail of some sort, right off the deck and then retrieve it from the water with a crane or something... like they did with early 20th century seaplanes. Just fire it like a missile when the threat appears, I'm sure the pilots won't mind, they might actually like it!

[stryker65]

Some issues i might have with this design 1) Up to what sea conditions can it be used ie. take off and land. 2) How much ordnance can one cram into a plane like this? 3) Visibility, won't the pilots rear view be obstructed by those intakes? 4) Won't the plane's hydrodynamics affect the plane's aerodynamic and stealth profile. 5) Logistics. Won't the ship carrying this be more have to be bigger to accommodate the plane's ordnance and fuel thereby becoming more vulnerable?

[dynmicpara]

Sea State 3 and above for water landings using the "C" technique. Go to the seaplanefighters web page offered in the video description

[dynmicpara]

Our surface ships already carry fuel and armaments for slow, short-ranged helicopters compromising their protection...its moot point...better to have a fixed-wing seaplane fighter that can actually defeat air/sea/land threats before they get close

[dynmicpara]

Stealth and pilot visibility are DESIGN features up to the creativity of the people making the seaplane fighter to include; the unimaginative need not try

[dynmicpara]

A fixed-wing sea airplane is more efficient than a helicopter and potentially can carry far more fuel and ordnance

[flamesholder]

4) stealth? in the 50's??

I think that all in all this plane is very interesting and worth attention.

[WTR1982]

"Claiming to be the first jet-fighter seaplane". Silly yanks, we know the SR.A/1 was first, now.

[BlacktailFA]

If you put an FCS into a Seadart that could handle the AIM-120 AMRAAM and AGM-84 Harpoon, you've really got something. GPS-guided bombs and JASSM cruise missiles would also be handy, as the FCS itself isn't a factor in their use.

I could see that older SaRoe design dishing out Sidewinders and Hellfires, too.

[hwoods01]

Dramatic footage at the end with the plane coming apart... Some producer mixes in some X-Mas like music?? WTH?

[dynmicpara]

He might have been trying to mock the seaplane fighter concept which is still important, valid and needed TODAY. Its through testing that feasible ideas are perfected.

[crocfme]

Like the way it came up the boat ramp, just like a ski-boat on a trailer...ski-boat?...now theres an idea!

[BlacktailFA]

The "Ski-Boat" you refer to is better known as a Hydrofoil.

The US Navy developed a Hydrofoil Missile Boat, known as the Pegasus-class, back in the late '60's. It was nothing more than a pile of over-expensive mental gadgetry, built for $PORK$, and over 30 years to build a measly 6 --- all were disposed of by 1995.