But still, pilots made it clear that a machine gun needed to be on board.
Its such as you read my thoughts! The canopy was redesigned after the original design lasted an average of 331 hours instead of the required 800 hours.
Things like information integration, unpiloted wingmen, better standoff weaponry and 6th gen planes in the pipeline 5 to 10 years earlier than expected in addition to known deficiencies in potential enemy systems all likely play a part in the equation.
That would have helped lower the cost, and we could have downgraded a bit of the sensitive technology for exports if necessary.
To improve pilot visibility, the canopy was moved forward 7 inches 18 cm and the engine intakes moved rearward 14 inches 36 cm.
In dogfights, the French jet can play to its strength.