GG, are you old enough to remember when all the "smart" aerial tacticians boldly said there'd never again be a need for a gun on a fighter? That "wisdom" evaporated when our all-missile F-4s kept getting on the tails of Migs over Hanoi - with no way to shoot them down because they were inside missile armup range. Or the missiles just flat failed, which is where dependence on technology can get you.
