F-16 "CJ" model (not a common variant) is a huge leap in capability over the regular Viper. Very good platform for SEAD.
F-4 Phantom II has retired as a target drone
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Originally Posted By: ArrestMeRedZ
I flew both the F-4C Wild Weasel and the F-4G Wild Weasel models in the back seat as an Electronic Warfare Officer. We joked the electronic devices in the F-4C WW were steam powered. It took a very capable crew to do their job in that platform, and life expectancy wasn't expected to be long in a conflict.
The F-4G had a lot of capability as a SAM killer. It was replaced by the F-16 that was much less capable in that role. Don't get me wrong, the F-16 is a great fighter, just was a very poor Wild Weasel when the F-4G was phased out around '93. Hopefully they improved it to near the F-4 capability in the last 24 years.
Originally Posted By: Astro14
F-16 "CJ" model (not a common variant) is a huge leap in capability over the regular Viper. Very good platform for SEAD.
CT8, I'm glad to hear an F-4 EWO got a respectable position after such a checkered past. 
Well...I've not flown the Viper...my experience with the platform comes as a planner in the AOC in Al-Udeid. I've got no first hand experience with the jet.
And it was the CJ Pilots I worked with who were telling me about the SEAD capabilities as we planned missions in Iraq....so...I suppose we will have to consider the source...
In my opinion, the F-4G HARM capability was pretty close to that in the Growler. The earlier CJ tactics I heard briefed reminded me of the limited F-4C Weasel, which involved a lot of missile launches against targets that weren't even there. Kind of like launching an AAMRAM into empty airspace because Intel reported a Mig was there 3 days ago.
I do love the basic F-16 though. Incredible aircraft. Better visibility out of the back seat than the front seat of an F-4. Easy to fly, but like every other fighter, very challenging to employ correctly.
Originally Posted By: JetStar
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a24434/f-4-phantom-retiring/
Last QF-4 target drone flights this month. Not sure if the Greeks are still flying them or not.
We certainly got our money's worth out of this platform, The multi-service fighter that was never intended to be.
Our local Indiana Air National Guard flew them from 1978 to 1991, starting with F-4Cs and ending with F-4Es. I still miss seeing, and above all, hearing them. IIRC the Collings Foundation still flies one
Here is a Pic I snapped of Col. Robin Olds's Phantom at the USAF museum in 2014
For the Phantom fans at BITOG, several minutes of JASDF F-4 ops in a variety of locations.
https://theaviationist.com/2017/01/25/th...se-of-phantoms/
Dang, I'm old. I was at Takhli and Korat in 70-71 (with three months out for manning assistance to RVN). The Weasels were still flying F105G models. I worked for the 42nd TEWS (ELECTRONIC combat - kill em with electrons), as part of the 388th TFW. The 42nd flew EB66's (known to Navy pukes as "The Whale" in their iteration and we cooperated closely with the Weasels for obvious reasons.
When I got there the Air Force was still armed with Shrike anti radiation missiles. They were about as sorry as could be. Once the bad guys figured out that shutting down the radar drove the Shrike off the game, except for maybe making them briefly put thei heads down, was up. The Navy had the Standard Arm which had proportional guidance and a pretty good memory of where the radar was before it shut down. Much better weapon and the AF finally got it as well. When we added the APR35/36 RHAW system to the F105's things got better.
The purpose of diving into the SAM was to get past it before it could trigger (there was an allusion to this in Hunt for Red October when Capt. Ramius used the same (fictional) strategy against the Soviet torpedo that was coming at him). It helped that the warhead on the SA-2 was a forward conical blast so if you could get abeam of it before it triggered you were "safe". The Soviets caught on to that one too and redesigned the warhead for a spherical blast.
The Navy's VQ-1 operating out of DaNang was the class of electronic warfare in Southeast Asia. Our stuff was hand me downs compared to them. We threw some unbelieveable parties with a few crews who came back with multiple holes up to two feet in the plane. You never saw more glassy eyed guys than them. I don't recall us losing any while I was there. I hope that's because we didn't.
Jetstar
Thank you for that pic of Robin Olds' F4. Made me think of another guy, Chappie James, who was Olds's exec in SEA. A real hero in so many ways, he died way too young. Their men loved them both and nicknamed them Blackman and Robin,an enduring mark of both love and respect.
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