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Top Gun 2

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Random8145

Registered User
Brett327 said:
Disagree. :) It's a tired antique, which I feel was adequately conveyed in the film... the 1970s cockpit, the fucking huffer start. I'm glad they included that.
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It's an antique, but it still has far more screen presence than the F/A-18 IMO. Also, they could have given it new engines, avionics, etc...no reason it couldn't have modern variants of all those things. My (albeit amateur) understanding of why they retired it is because it was a maintenance hog and also the primary role it was designed for became obsolete with the fall of the Soviet Union.

But even if it was a complete piece of crap as an airplane, it still is one of the best looking ever made IMO!
 
nittany03

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
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Super Moderator
Contributor
Random8145 said:
It's an antique, but it still has far more screen presence than the F/A-18 IMO. Also, they could have given it new engines, avionics, etc...no reason it couldn't have modern variants of all those things.
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f29.png
 
Brett327

Brett327

Well-Known Member
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Super Moderator
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Random8145 said:
far more screen presence than the F/A-18 IMO.
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Define "screen presence." I dunno about you, but 98% of the flying shots in this film were of the Rhino, and those were all pretty bad assed. Also, would you be interested in owning a model T Ford equipped with Tesla hands free driving capabilities? Granted, you and your family are going to feel every single defect in the road, because the model T really doesn't have a suspension to speak of, and the brakes aren't effective at all in wet weather.

This trope that we could have just strapped on better X, Y, or Z capability on a 35 year old airframe is asinine. If the F-14 was used today in a fight against China, it would be the very first thing shot down. No amount of upgraded sensors or weapons is going to get past the fact that it has an RCS the size of a barn door. It was a great jet in its time. Let's please stop pretending that it was ever capable of becoming anything more than that.
 
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Random8145

Registered User
Brett327 said:
Define "screen presence." I dunno about you, but 98% of the flying shots in this film were of the Rhino, and those were all pretty bad assed. Also, would you be interested in owning a model T Ford equipped with Tesla hands free driving capabilities? Granted, you and your family are going to feel every single defect in the road, because the model T really doesn't have a suspension to speak of, and the brakes aren't effective at all in wet weather.

This trope that we could have just strapped on better X, Y, or Z capability on a 35 year old airframe is asinine. If the F-14 was used today in a fight against China, it would be the very first thing shot down. No amount of upgraded sensors or weapons is going to get past the fact that it has an RCS the size of a barn door. It was a great jet in its time. Let's please stop pretending that it was ever capable of becoming anything more than that.
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"Screen presence," i.e. looks far cooler and more commanding. The Rhino may be superior but it just doesn't have the commanding presence, IMO.

As for upgrading the F-14, that kind of depends on what one means. The Rhino is almost a different aircraft altogether from the original F/A-18, and similarly with the F-14, there were proposals for a variant that looked the same, but otherwise was basically an entirely new aircraft, with new airframe and all-new systems. One benefit it would have over the Rhino in particular is significantly longer range and faster speed. Also they continue to upgrade the F-15 and F-16.

As for stealth, I would think the Chinese could probably shoot down Rhinos as easily as F-14s with the radars in existence today, but of course correct me if wrong.
 
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Random8145

Registered User
I will say was very sad seeing Val Kilmer having been reduced to such a shell of the man he was in the original film. The cancer has really done a number on him :(
 
sevenhelmet

sevenhelmet

Low calorie attack from the Heartland
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Random8145 said:
As for stealth, I would think the Chinese could probably shoot down Rhinos as easily as F-14s with the radars in existence today, but of course correct me if wrong.
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Even easier, since there are 0 flying F-14s on our side.
 
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