wrightwing wrote:APKWS has a much longer range than 6.8nm when fired from a fixed wing aircraft. It's over 10nm.
If the objective was 16,000 m in 2010, 15,000 ft (
AGL) by F-16 I'd say they'll routinely get >20,000 m from F-35 in 2025+. Looking at the last few years of urban-fight against light insurgents, a small plentiful precise weapon like this will make a big difference, if launched from high-altitude on loitering F-35s. Mix that with light free-fall PGMs, some 500 lb laser-JDAM-ER, SDBII. Hard-core urban-warfare response with footprint that covers a medium city from an altitude where the combatants won't necessarily know you're there. A flight could mutually circle an area with 50 km radial separation. All approaches and attack angles are covered fast. The effect would be like a couple of virtual gunships.