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.
All true Rocky but as you recall the third critical factor was the politicians also hung our guys with an ROE that kept them from using radar missiles (as crude and unreliable as they were) in a BVR fight.
I spent some time working foreign material exploitation and had the luck to work against some pretty advanced surface and aircraft potential foes over the years on some dets out in the desert. They all have strengths and weaknesses. The Mig-29 was a strong opponent once you went to the merge. You learned not to do that. It's not all training but it's a huge part of how good our guys are.
I was out at NAS Whidbey last weekend for the EA-6B farewell. In my day an Aviator or Naval Flight Officer walked away from their first tour with 1000 hours in type and 200 (usually closer to 250) traps minimum. These days it's 700 and maybe 125. That lack of time in the air flying in dynamic environments (not airways nav) is what will kill our guys on day one.
