the in canon x wing can hold 6 torpedos 10 concussion missiles 4 lazers the reason for the weapon on the wing is for its jack of all trades as it make it better to hit grounld targets the reason for no circle cockpit is that the life support , cooling system and shield generator are behind the cop pit as well as the cockpit was design to be a escape pod.
Actually the open s-foils could help cooling the ship as the heat wouldn't irradiate directly on the other wing (or in case s foils didn't exist irradiate on other parts of the wing)
Was about to come and mention this, it might be an oversight but i do recall being able to fire in the old tie fighter/x-wing games it just wasn't very ideal, at least with four you had a wider arc to hit stuff.
so basically speaking: X-wings CAN shoot while its s-foils were closed, but risk overheating the blaster cannons faster if attacking like this over periods of time.
On Flaw 2 (the S Foils don't conduct heat away in space) you forgot about radiation. No conduction happens in space but by increasing the surface area more heat can be radiated away. You suggested a liquid cooled system, I don't know if the S Foils have liquid coolant in them, but how do you think the heat is removed from the liquid coolant.
@@domdagamer5285 maybe. I mean it wouldnt evaporate that quickly it would be like sweating. The reserves could last for a few hours of combat which is more than enough for virtually any battle.
@@curseofgladstone4981 phase change cooling is neat, but simple conduction would be the most efficient way to remove heat to the S foils, since all we're dealing with is radiant dissipation. Copper or gold plating would work better, likely weight less than a liquid system, and have no moving parts to break.
the x-wing has 2 proton torpedo Launchers, its magazine is at least 3-4 each for a total of 6-8. also, an x-wing can fire with its S-foils closed, the rouge squadron games got that wrong.
"White noise", sensor overload with too much data, flechette (like used on anti-missile systems), EMP (even a low grade one would knock out sensor/cameras before they interfere with other systems), ECM (electronic countermeasures) are a few ways to knock out camera/sensor systems and many are cheap and easy to use. Having the ability to see and avoid an asteroid that the sensors do not detect because they are down would be really advantageous of a opaque windshield.
Personally I think the 170's are best used in unison with ground invasions. It is a sort of bulky multi-role fighter bomber with a crew of 3 + an astro mech droid. I think it would be best to clear them out of capital ship hangar space and into the carriers for a more supportive role. Save the capital ship hangar space for the more dedicated fighter and bomber roles to fight in space.
A lot of your gripes about the S-foils simply don't hold up. The purpose of the S-foils and the weapon placement is heat management, and to that end, the design works very well. The S-foils dissipate heat the same way as the giant Radiator Panels on the International Space Station, and in attack position, they double their exposed surface area, thus increasing efficiency. Heat dissipation is further increased by placing the laser cannons, which get very hot, as far away from each other as possible.
@RichTheWolfGaming - Except that doesn't make sense either. Radiators work by sending infrared radiation off into deep space. If you have two radiators pointing at each other (or at the spacecraft itself), you will just end up with the radiator being pointed at receiving the radiation you were trying to get rid of. The inside faces of the S-foils still point at the inside faces of the S-foils, so it won't increase efficiency at all.
@@ReddwarfIV With the angle of the S-foils to each other enough heat will be reflected away to be better than keeping the S-foils closed. If the ship stays in a straight line the heat will tend to stay with it but with the slightest turn in any direction the heat will stay on the original course.
@@dat581 - Light moves at lightspeed. Its a lot faster than the movement of the spacecraft. It wouldn't look as cool, but it would make much more sense to have radiators at 90 degrees from each other, or to increase the wing's size, instead of making them split apart. That just adds complexity for little gain.
I'm sorry but you are incorrect on a few points here. 1. Yes, the weapons were mounted on the ends of the strike foils to increase field of fire. On that you are correct. S-Foils were later retconned to be heat dissipation. I am unsure why they felt that was necessary except to explain why some ships had S-foils with no weapons mounted on them. 2. NO, this did NOT make it harder to hit the target, rather the reverse. Unlike real world aircraft, a starfighter's lasers need not fire in a straight line, but can bend several degrees to track a target. This was evident in the footage for the battle of Yavin. The lasers bend at least 5-degrees off center-line (and probably more than that) while tracking the targets. 3. X-Wing lasers were capable of both chain fire (firing one laser at a time in a cycle) or group fire (firing all four lasers at once. The benefit of chain fire is a constant stream of laser fire, allowing for better target tracking thus making it more likely to hit the target. The benefit of group fire is greater damage on a successful hit (assuming all four lasers hit the target) which is more likely to overload the target's shield. 4. The X-wing had two proton torpedo LAUNCHERS, each launcher had a magazine of 3 torpedoes, totaling 6 torpedoes in all. 5. X-Wings CAN indeed fire their weapons with the S-Foils closed, though this reduces the field of fire mentioned earlier. It, however CANNOT engage the hyperdrive while the S-foils are in attack positions as while in attack position power is shunted from the hyperdirve to the weapons charging systems. 6. In the black of space, your "Mark I eyeballs" would have a hard time finding a target, especially as the maximum effective range of the X-Wing's lasers is 2.5 kilometers. Good luck spotting a TIE from 2km away with your eyes. For reference, an M61 Vulcan cannon has a maximum effective range of roughly 600 meters (and good luck actually hitting the target at ranges greater than 300 meters), less than a third of the X-Wing's weapon range. The cockpit's transparasteel canopy was designed so that a pilot could see out while the systems were powered down, such as during take-off and landing, as well as when powering down to avoid detection by scanners. The rest of the time, you would rely on your HUD and HDDs to feed you tactical information (not the mention your astromech's sensors).
actually, #1 has another function as well. According the the cross-section books, the the weapons mounted on the tip of the S-foils in order to provide additional cooling rate. (don't know if this is retcon or not)
Actually even lasers going straight doesn't help. You are never perfectly in line with your target and having 4 guns spaced so far apart greatly increases the likelyhood of a hit. With the size of it's cannons it mostly just needs 1 hit so it makes sense to space them apart. Firing them with the S-foils closed means the cannons are closer together and cover a smaller area with fire.
For point 6, if the X-Wing is in the process off take-off/landing, the systems couldn't be powered down, or it could not do those things at all. And there's no saying that you must only have either one and not both. Armored panel can be slide over the transparent canopy in case sensors are busted and you have no choice but to eyeball stuff. Realistically, armored cockpit is a must for space fighters for one reason; lethal tiny debris. And those will be plenty in space especially near stuff that tend to generate them such as exploding spacefighters. Those debris, at best, would scratch the canopy that would reduce their visibility in the long run or at worse, straight up punch through it to get to the pilot. And that's just the debris. You also have to take into account the full power radiation from stars you're gonna get in space. Unless the pilot care about his/her health, riding an X-Wing without a full decked suit is not a good idea (and a lot of their pilots tend to wear little suit compared to their enemies). An armored cockpit however, would not have this problem.
@SecondSein You also have to remember the X-wing would often be powered down in space for ambushes. They'd part on the projected route of an Imperial Ship/patrol, power down to avoid detection, and wait. In that case, they needed the visuals to spot the enemy. When running min power even passive sensors are a risk.
@@Dacl73 like I said, armored panel that can slide over the transparent canopy so that can be slide off when it's powered down and slide on when powered up.
True, and the astromech could fire it, although that would prevent it making repairs while doing so. And when you've copped some shots from the rear is when you want to make repairs or divert power to shields ect. But if missiles could be slung on the wings like with a K-Wing, just have a few aimed backwards. Another REALLY risky option is to jettison spare parts that hit the unshielded Ties window if it's right behind you.
@@beakwooda.k.aadregallus8788 Same reason the Y-Wings were so heavly stripped. The Rebels wanted fast and light loads on their fighters. That and the cost of the longrange weapons. The X-Wings who attacked the first Death Star only had 2 torpedos loaded.
Can't say I entirely agree on the astromech droid being a flaw. An X-Wing was still usable without one and hyperspace coordinates could be inputted manually like on any other ship without an astromech, the droid just made it easier. Yes, the X-Wing would not be working at 100% efficiency if you were missing your droid, but then you basically just have a Z-95. There aren't really any downsides to the astromech other than maybe weight or space taken up.
I misspoke. 'Weight' only exists relative to gravity - I meant mass. Assuming an optimised warship, if you add mass, you reduce the max acceleration and delta V (a measure of ability to manoeuvre). If you want to keep acceleration and dV constant, for every extra 1% mass you need bigger drives (which adds mass) and more than 1% extra reaction mass (kinda like fuel). This all makes your craft bigger, thus reducing its structural integrity (unless you re-enforce it, adding mass, thus needing more drives and remass etc.), and armour (MORE mass), and makes it easier to hit. Play some Kerbal Space Program if you wanna know how important mass is in space.
1:19 False. Hera Syndulla was able to fire with Her x-wings S-foils closed. And X-wings almost NEVER get ambushed because they are the obese who can jump to lightspeed, while the Tie has exit a hangar, giving them plenty of time to lock S-foils in attack position. Another reason why the Rebel Fleet is far superior to the imperial fleet. The First Order however....
Farmer Stepnovski That’s has me of the X-Wing’s powers in BFII, along with launching the proton torpedoes(which are infinite in the game) and having the onboard astromech droid do repairs.
X-Wings carried a dual proton torpedo launcher in the fuselage, not the wings. And that came with a magazine of 6 torpedoes, not 2. So an X-wing can either shoot 6 torpedoes one at a time or a pair of them three times. And if you mount torpedoes on the wings, not only do you increase target space, but also more surface area for radar or sensor detection. That's the reason why the F-22 and F-35 have internal weapons bays.
i think the reason generation tech thought the X-wing only carried 2 proton torpedoes was that lukes only carried two during the deathstar attack, because the rebellion didnt have enough to fully load all the ships
@@TytonidaeIndustries More like they didn't have the time. Remember each run only got one shot at the exhaust port for the first Death Star before they were shot down. So to increase the probability of a hit, they fired two torpedoes at once. I read the schematics on the X-Wing and it clearly states they had a magazine of 6 torpedoes.
@Hung Nguyen while you do bring up many good points, actually all of them are valid, Luke's X-wing did only have one pair of torpedo's, do to the rebellions lack of funding as stated in the (possibly now noncanon) Incredible Cross Sections. whether that book is canon or not, i do feel that Luke only having two torpedo's for the mission fits well with how the Rebellion was portrayed
@@TytonidaeIndustries Could be. Then again, it could just be because of the movie script. In any case, the X-Wing could carry more than 2 torpedoes so that invalidates that flaw. As I recall, Wedge Antilles needed more than 2 torpedoes to destroy the power regulator in the Second Death Star.
@@TytonidaeIndustries And I need to make a correction. The X-Wing carried two Krup MG-7 Proton Torpedo launchers, not a single dual launcher and each launcher had 3 torpedoes in its magazine for a max total of 6. Each launcher can be fired separately or synchronized to fire a pair of torpedoes. Still this invalidates the flaw that X-Wing fighters only have two torpedoes.
I'm not so sure about the cannons moving independently but I do know that they can be fired in different ways. For example, they can be fired one at a time in quick succession, all 4 at once, or 2 at a time. Not entirely sure about the fire rate however.
The X-Wing reminds me of the F-4 Phantom. A design that had it's flaws (mainly poorer than expected maneuverability and lack of a gun) but it's sheer multi-role capabilities made it an icon and it is still in service around the world today (most recently attacking ISIS).
My father was a crew chief on F4s in the late Vietnam era, and as much as he loved the plane, he always thought the attempt to make it multirole turned it into a bus with huge turbines. More like a Y-Wing in that sense. The X-wing struck me more like the F104. It looked like it should be a great flier, but unless you had a great pilot it just looked good in a picture.
The Phantom's lack of a gun only became a problem due to using the jet in a role it was not designed for and then using it with very stupid ROE. Once the Navy properly trained its crews towards the end of the Vietnam War they achieved an excellent kill ratio and Navy Phantoms never had a gun.
Pilots liked the closed cockpit on the P-47, it had a big chunk of metal behind the pilot to protect him, since the P-47 was so well known for being tough, the bubble cockpit was a target
It still had that huge chunk though, in the razorback 47s, the chunk they all refer to is the armor plate behind the seat, which matches the seat's profile entirely. The P-47s with bubble cockpits still had those
6:20 I'd argue against a fighter-sized craft having a fully armored cockpit because any shot powerful enough to cripple a fighter is going to endanger or kill a pilot if aimed at the cockpit regardless of the presence of armor. You save on maintenance costs with all the cameras and sensors and shave off some weight. A full bubble cockpit should suffice, with maybe a window in the floorboard.
You will have to have radar or sensors anyway to know where enemy is and helmet that can display surroundings is not going to add a lot of maintenance. Droids and ships are cheap so why would such helmet be problem, crappy cocpit of x-wing is probably biggest flaw in its design.
@@rowanmcclantoc5418 Glass cocpit is structural weakness and cameras are super cheap compared to everything else in x-wing, get rid of structural weakness and add benefit of better situational awareness with 360 sight.
@@robertkalinic335 Glass cockpits are structural weaknesses, and large warships would do well to avoid them at all costs. However, strike craft such as fighters are infinitely more fragile, such that I don't think it's worth bothering trying to armor it. You wouldn't load your fighters with underpowered weapons to preserve the enemy pilot's life, would you?
Also G-force tolerance of a human being is much lower than that of steel or plexiglass, so the idea that a space fighter could tear itself apart with a glass canopy is dubious.
More cooling space the better thermal exhaustion is. Unfolding wings X-wing effectively doubles surfaces radiating heat out of the ship and reveals cooling devices which radiates as well, which is probably made of material radiating heat faster than ship cover. It would look great if it would start glow when overheated during the battle, but they missed that detail too.
I was always wondering about the X-Wing cannons on the wings, and it wasn't until you mentioned the WWII fighter planes and the propellers that it clicked, thanks!
When the S-Foils are open it also changed the position of the four engines. making the X-Wing more maneuverable in combat. The craft relied on differential thrust to maneuver, noting the lack of RCS thrusters mounted on the body or wings.
So the Rebellion could build top of the line hyperspace capable snub fighters, but couldn't build proton torpedoes? And considering the K-Wing design, slinging torpedoes or missiles [I'll use that term for both] on hard points would be a viable tactic, launch the anti fighter ones as you approach the furball to thin out the heard and lose the weight. Maybe have a few aimed backwards to protect your six o'clock. Or as a coordinated strike, launch all ions in a salvo against a heavy target like a capital ship (or facility) for a big hit against the shields, then the next X-Wing does the same with protons against the now unshielded target. And then the unencumbered X-Wings now can dogfight with no extra baggage. Rinse and repeat with the next strike equipped fighters in the formation. If each S foil could have two missiles slung on the outside edge, that gives an X-Wing an extra 8 missiles (over the 6 they could already carry internally), if it could mount three, that's 12 extra missiles, that once launched inflict no performance penalty because they are self contained, for a total of 18 missiles. That is an awesome amount of firepower if all launched at once. Seriously the Mon Calamari couldn't build a missile assembly line on one of the support ships? It would have made the X-Wing an awesome raider/bomber for quick in and out strikes, in addition to it's other abilities. What would have also been interesting is if Incom had updated the ARC-170 design with X-Wing tech to make a heavy strike fighter/bomber, a ARC-180, designed to hit hard and fast and get out. And if you're being purely pragmatic about the S-foils, what do you think of the Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica, just from a design layout of the basic frame?
I hate to be that guy but radiators do work in space and are a common part of several space craft. If you say ran them down the length of the S-foils heat would be dissipated. And would be dispated more the farther apart they were from each other. Spreading S-foils to dispate heat better actually makes perfect sense.
I was very annoyed that he went on for so long about how S-Foils aren't good radiators, when they most definitely are. Adding very hot lasers to the ends of the radiators also makes a lot of sense.
@@shraka Exactly, I think it just boils to misunderstanding of heat transfer, they would be less effective in space because you no longer have conductive heat loss from the atmosphere but you still have thermal radiation, it's just slower. Actually I tend to like X wings because there like the only starwars ship to acknowledge heat
+alex15035 - It makes sense to put the guns on the end of radiators, but it doesn't make sense to split the radiators apart by only 45 degrees or so. Most of the infrared radiation coming off the inside faces of the S-foils will hit another S-foil, so you would barely be increasing the efficiency if at all.
Still regardless of all it's flaws, the t-65 X-wing still remains my favorite starfighter. Still would like to have one built custom made to my spec's. (Like a radio/cd/audio tape player, high end weapons & everything a man can use in defense of himself. When ya need it & don't have it ya sing a whole different tune.) As for a paint job? Black ,w red flame trim & maybe a few decals + a couple of bumper stickers, you know flashy statements like (ahem) FASTER THAN A SPEEDING TICKET. Or something like that? oh One last, don't like my flying, dile 1-800 kiss my tailpipe! 😉😄 (enemy pilot looks on, 😳 WHO WAS THAT GUY?! )
Heat can be radiated into vacuum in shadow. In darkness space is extremely cold, heat can easily be radiated into this coldness as heat is energy moving from hot to cold. No atmosphere neccessary to cool a vehicle.
In deep space maybe, but fighting a space battle near an inhabitable planet would generate enormous amounts of heat which would need to be disapated in the only way space will allow, infrared radiation.
the f 35 has 4x 25 mm cannons what the hell are you talking about it has a singel 25 mm gatling gun just like most modern jet have a singel gun onboarde only like the mirage f 2000 has twin 30mm aden cannons
@@jooot_6850 not really. While it's true that a rotary cannon has multiple chambers with a bolt and barrel for each, they rely completely on the rotation since the actuation of the bolt is dependent on a guide within the outer shell of the gun. The chambers can't fire independently and the entire weapon has a single point at which each chamber fires
"S-Foils?" I always heard that line as "Lock AIR foils in attack position'. That's certainly what they look like: some kind of atmospheric control surface. I think "S-Foils" is a retcon to cover what was originally a ill-conceived line.
The X-wing's (and also the TIE Interceptor/Defender's) cannon placement actually made them one of the most effective ships against the Yuuzhan Vong arsenal, however. Because the Yuuzhan Vong's coralskippers had defensive "mini-black-holes" that were especially strong against weapon systems whose lasers converged with standard targeting systems, the New Republic figured out that tweaking the s-foil targeting arrays to make a messier "spread" that would make it very difficult for the living coralskippers to intercept, since they could only maintain one or two interception points at any given time. The fact that they had 4 cannons dramatically increased their chances of landing any hits, which would be especially devastating since coralskippers were living beings and had relatively minimal armor and no inherent shielding or redundant defenses on their actual organic structures.
@@lancer737 That was retcon, in the original 70's movie they didn't have great sensors because back then (IMHO) modern jet fighters still relied a lot on the eyeballs, and radar was more for getting a general direction on enemies and missile locks. Visual sensors weren't a thing.
A simpler explanation for lasers mounted on the tips of the wings and extending the wings into a X-configuration for firing would be that Incom used a type of powerful laser cannons (which were pretty reliable and easily repairable under limited maintenance conditions) that unfortunately generated electronic interference with each other if they were too close together. It also had a sufficient negative effect on avionics so the design put the cannons as far from the fuselage as possible and using the X-configuration to similar effect. It is not that they couldn't be used in folded configuration but their reliability took a big hit when used in that fashion and if they stopped working, base maintenance was needed to get them working again, so it was generally advisable to open the wings before use. A two photon torpedo configuration (people commented on internal magazines for more torpedoes but there might be internal space issues) was the balance between anti-ship and anti-fighter capability of the X-Wing. More torpedo launchers would seriously degrade the maneuverability of the fighter and it was a design decision to have at least two launchers/hardpoints because it needed to be able to deliver bigger ordnance than laser hits against larger craft. An alternative explanation is that it all looked cool, differentiated the Rebels from the Empire, and nobody actually had to design such a craft.
🌟🌟The 11th. & BIGGEST flaw of the X-Wing are the pilots themselves. 🌟🌟 They supposedly already have previous combat experience, that's why they're in that cockpit in the first place. The next time you watch 'New Hope', you'll notice pretty quickly that most of those pilots, IN THE MIDDLE OF COMBAT NO LESS, can't seem to find their own asses with both hands & a Polish seeing eyedog (Biggs, Porkins & others) 🐕. Good ship, bad pilots. 👎 Don't they have simulators in the S.W. universe, or, just like underwear, they don't exist 👙❓
Panic in combat is a real thing. The rebels didn't have many veterans left who could keep a cooler head. Trained people will panic bit fall back on their training to an extent
I'm pretty sure the X-wing has internal magazines that give it a total of 6 torpedos. I'd also argue that the droid feature isn't a downside at all as the Tie fighter simply doesn't have the capability. However I'd say the A-wing is a generally more logical design. Also the F-35 has just one cannon that has 4 barrels but it is just one gun.
The actor who played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy was offered the chance to reprise the role for the sequel trilogy, but declined; Since he backed out, Wedge was written out entirely and replaced by the new character Poe Dameron.
In WW II, the convergence of the wing guns varied. The smaller caliber .303 converged closer than the .50 rounds. Some planes, like the P 51 Mustangs had multiple convergence points. Individual pilots sometimes had their crews change the point as well. In none of the planes did the wing guns fire parallel to the others. Modern day fighters and CAS aircraft have center mounted guns.
Given most of the fighting happens at extremely close range, my question is why they bother having complex targeting systems at all when eyeballs work fine?
The video still holds up and it's great entertainment even after 5 years, just a small correction - the F-35 does not have 4 cannons, it has 1 cannon with 4 barrels. Again thank you for the content.
Actually, the X-Wing has 4 laser cannons and 2 proton torpedo launchers. The lauchers were able to carry a total of 6 torpedoes, but at the time of the Battle of Yavin, having lost so much hardware at Scariff, the rebel cell on Yavin 4, could only afford to equip each starfighter with two torpedoes. In the cross sections book, it states that the s-foils are for bleeding off radiation and heat. Space is cold, so quite a lot of radiation and heat could be bled off during combat. The s-foils are designed to keep the ships operating within a safe temperature range, to avoid damaging the many sensitive pieces of equipment.
@Generation Tech THANK YOU, SOMEONE, FINALLY TALKED ABOUT THE DEBILITATING WEAPON SYSTEMS FIRE SPREAD!!!!!! You don't need to be a historic pilot to see that trying to shoot a weapon 20 feet away from you and hit something is very difficult. I'd also like to mention the thrust to weight ratio visible. Regardless of the amount of power available on the future magic thrusters, the acceleration would always be better if you had an engine with a gun. If a ship the size of the Tie Fighter accelerates just barely faster than the X-wing, then a Tie with just one of the X-wings massive thrusters would easily give it double the acceleration of the X-wing. For those that don't know why I say "acceleration" in lieu of "max speed," it's due to drag not existing, thus the ship will constantly accelerate (get faster), if the thrusters constantly fire. If I were to redesign the X-wing with rebel doctrine in mind, I would remove life support to add the lighter and easier to access personal mounted life support. Remove the shield to make it accelerate faster, make it smaller, and it is not necessary for a fast craft to be godly unkillable (like American aircraft) from two laser shots. Give it only two engines that are larger and remove that massive nose moving the cockpit higher like the early jets. F-86 Sabres are a great example of how the engines could be mounted to reduce the profile if they REALLY need to collect air... in space. More modern air intakes on the side also seem to be more beneficial. Increase the fire rate, and accuracy of the guns on the X-wing (maybe "slugthrowers?" XD). Apparently, only one shot is needed from the blaster to James Bond the target so why 4? It won't do anything to a Star Destroyer, use more torpedos or increase the fire rate. 8 blasters clustered in the nose would be amazing like the P-38 (if we're using the side intakes, otherwise only 4 might be able to fit in the nose and 4 around the cockpit). This would make a devastating wall of fire. ~Minor History Lesson~ The P-51 featured two separate carburetors in its huge engine geared for different air densities. This allowed it to specialize at two separate altitudes. Most aircraft wanted to minimize weight, unlike the X-wing, because that meant they could accelerate faster and maneuver quicker. Weight has little direct effect on the speed of the aircraft. Only the acceleration and angle of flight are directly affected. American aircraft have always been big bulky and slow. More guns, less fuel efficiency, and maneuverability. Spitfires and Zeros were wooden, Me or Bf 109s had large engines. All had large thrust to weight ratios. Most fighters either had light to medium guns and around four. Americans specialized with the .50 cal (12.7mm) M2 Browning Machine Guns. The P-47 had eight of them, P-51 had four 20mm cannons. While it's okay to say that one gun can take down an enemy vehicle, it should either be accurate or high fire rate. No aircraft to aircraft weapons were low fire rate. The reason American planes could be made so heavy was that they could launch from London and take their sweet time gaining altitude to 30k feet. Then use their aerodynamic modern fighters (from massive production and industrious power other nations didn't have) to dive at high speeds gaining speed much quicker with their weight, and having a higher max speed in the dive due to their durability. This is no possible in space, so the X-wing has no reason to be thiCC.
Actually, if you look at the international space station, wings are a way to jettison head out into space to keep from cooking the station due to power generation. Plus the laser cannon is very large and could produce more energy per shot then a TIE or A-Wing and may need the separation from the pilot so the separation may be to keep the heat from cooking the ship.
The lasers on the wingtip needing to converge is taken care of the targeting computer. I figure it once it locks on, the computer figures out how much each laser cannon needs to move its line of fire
The number one flaw IMO besides the massively spread out weapons is the forward visibility, in a dogfight not having the nose of the craft in your line of sight is a big advantage, if you're trying to lead a shot on a target, the X-wing's nose gets right in the way of the pilots view. IMO the ideal layout is something like the Starfury from Babylon 5, weapons close in to the cockpit, an unobstructed view from the front, sensors could make up for the lack of rear view, and the engines/reaction control thrusters are out on the tips of the wings, maximising their thrust.
There are three types of heat transfer, conduction (touching) , convection (requires a fluid like air), and radiation. Radiation is the important one when operating in a vacuum, and the more surface area utilized, the more energy that can be radiated away. Also, the weapons and thrusters are likely the largest heat generators on the ship, so it is ideal to have them out on the wings, closest to largest surface areas. This placement also keeps them away from the pilot and other more heat sensitive systems. With that, locking the S-foils in attack position would see much more efficient heat transfer. Since the the foils are so close to each other, the radiant heat would just bounce between the interior sides of the foils and not dissipate into space.
Hi Alan, love the videos, however I don't think you understand the difference between convection cooling (transfer heat to another medium like air - which we use in air and water environments) and radiant cooling (which we use in spacecraft, for example the Space shuttle's doors were very large radiant coolers - they used liquid to take the heat from the cabin and the radiators expelled the heat via thermal radiation). Opening the S foils would double the surface area for radiating heat in space. the X design is not the most efficient, but it's still better than leaving the foils closed. Convection is more efficient but it's not available in space. ETA: No fan's DO NOT work in space. Fans work by pushing a material (like air) over a radiator for convection cooling. As there is no air in space it can't be used which is why we don't have fans on satellites, spacecraft, or probes, not even on the Parker Solar Probe.
Those who love the x-wing and despise the TIE should remember the first battle of Yavin. 32 alliance fighters, including 18 x-wings, 12 Y-wings, and 2 R-22 Spearhead Assault fighters. In response, Tarkin unleashed no fighters, but Vader ordered his personal squadron of six ships to attack. It is not often appreciated these TIE pilots were significantly outnumbered during the battle, but the members of Black Squadron were among the finest the Empire had to offer: they fought hard, and were responsible for many of the Alliance casualties. While it is true that Vader destroyed 7 ships, including 4 x-wings, in the trench, 6 more, as well as 8 Y-wings, were destroyed in dogfights.
This happens a lot even with modern military vehicles. To cover a lot of performance purposes in one platform you have to sacrifice the excellence in just one of those particular aspects. I'd say a good example, off the top of my head, would be the Tomcat back in it's day. The technology, power, durability, multiple role capability, and longevity was relatively high. Though, it still had it's flaws like comparative lower speed, lower maneuverability, cost, and limited upgradablity toward the end of its run. But, like the X-wing, with the right pilot in the cockpit it was unstoppable "force" in the theater of battle!
The X-Wing was primarily an escort fighter... to counter enemy fighters, which it does rather well... it isn't a bomber, which is why it doesn't have a large anti capital ordnance like say the Y-Wing. It could support in more ways than a TIE fighter because it also had proton torpedoes. Also in regards to the wings/weapons. You really need to look at the X-Wings predecessor the Z-95. This craft had static wings, lighter on engines and weapons because of it.
For the cockpit canopy, it's stated in various sources that it's made fron transpiresteel, transparent metal, so it's no less armored than the rest of the spacecraft.
In the opening film clip you show Poe firing as the foils open. As to the radiating fins, heat radiates, even in vacuum. The space shuttle had radiating surfaces in the inside of the cargo doors for use in orbit. Wookiepedia identifies the mg7 torpedo launchers on the rebellion-era t65 as having a capacity of three per launcher. I don't know where you get the idea that the f35 carries four cannons.
Liquid cooling would need to be some form of chemical process to cool because normal liquid cooling is still air cooling. A big issue is the box shaped wing shape that would cause turbulence, drag and control issues when in atmospheres.
Alan, I'm really sorry to slam you on this. A liquid cooler can be used in the X-wings S-foils. The over heated liquid flows out to the exposed radiators which are exposed to an environmental condition that can get into the -400C or more temperature. This extreme cold temperature when super cool the liquid which is then redirected back into the coolant unit. Ther emight not be air in space, but there is extreme colds.
Older video, but I figured I'd add it. In the Xwing book series (The book in particular being Wraith Squadron) one of the trainees, Kell Tainner, managed to get a snap shot off that took out a TIE fighter while the s-foils where still in cruise position. The officer in charge of the training session , Wes Janson (The gunner for Wedge Antilles' snowspeeder in the Empire Strikes Back), complimented him for the maneuver and mentioned he recorded it for future training sessions. It is possible to shoot from the cruise position, just not ideal.
Opening your s foils would actually increase heat dissipation even in space. It doubles the surface are for the wings which helps with reducing heat. While it is ultimately still not much heat dissipation that’s not because of the s foils, it’s because of spaces lack of heat acceptance. In atmosphere it would be incredibly effective. Not to mention, having the laser cannons on the end of the wings prevents the cannons from heating up the cockpit and other essential systems in the fuselage.
You bring up field of vision as one of the worst problems that Star Wars fighters are faced with. Have you ever thought about using COFFIN (Connection For Flight INterface) from Ace Combat? It provides a complete 360 field of vision. It would be really effective especially in the Star Wars universe where most other space craft can't offer 360 views.
I have it in good confidence that a X-Wing can carry SIX proton torpedoes; three in each tube (whether the R.A. uses this ordnance feature to its full extent is another story...)
The F-35 has a single 25mm cannon (mounted internally on F-35A and gun pod on F-35B/C) and numerous hardpoints as you said for missiles and bombs. The F-35 - like the F22 - can focus it's radar energy to over load the sensors of a specific target.
Remember that proton torpedoes are very expensive. It’s makes sense that the rebellion, who is pretty underfunded, won’t drop a significant amount of money for each torpedo and equip the dozens (or more) of x-wings with ~10 expensive tornadoes each.
What makes you think the Tie fighter has an advantage over the x-wing because it was cheaper? It literally could not do anything except fly and shoot in a straight line.
Another thing about the X-Wing is the cockpit canopy. Considering the placement of the astromech droid, making the canopy a bubble top would be irrelevant since the astromech droid would still block the rear view anyway. And according to Wedge Antilles, the astromech droid serves as extra protection to the pilot from being hit from behind. He often states that the huge head of his R5 unit acts like an extra barrier. R2-D2 certainly saved Luke from a fatal blast during the Battle of Yavin. Remember that line of sight is important in dogfights in Star Wars and the X-Wing canopy is still far superior than the Tie Fighter in that respect.
@@davidlink3787 That too, though the astromech might be too busy repairing and monitoring the ship's systems. Despite having an extra set of eyes, that didn't save the pilots from being shot from behind during the Battle of Yavin. One thing Generation Tech didn't mention was that the X-Wing is actually more aerodynamic in atmosphere, giving it an advantage over the Tie Fighter. And I think he needs to rethink his comment about the quad lasers. The deployment of the S-Foils give the pilot a wider cone of fire. True the bolts will converge on a single point some distance ahead of the X-Wing but if the target is either too close or too far from that convergence point, the chances of the target getting hit by one or two bolts are still good. If you ever saw a WW2 Spitfire and its 8 wing-mounted machine guns, you'll see them spaced out. Their cone of fire is pretty wide too.
As a note the main reason behind the configuration of the 8 .303s in a Spitfire was because of ammunition feeds/magazines and where the ejection ports were than cone of fire. If you look at American fighters you will see that their MGs were mounted as close to the centerline of aircraft, while still clearing the propeller blades, as possible.
The Tie fighter pilots all have helmet mounted displays, which is almost definitely linked to external sensors all around. Their observation capabilities are likely to be superior to the primitive looking X-Wing equivalents. I highly doubt the X-Wing pilots have HMD, otherwise why do they need a separate eye-piece for the targeting computer?
@@tonglianheng Considering how terrible the heads-up display is for the stormtrooper helmets, I wouldn't be surprised if the tie-fighter pilots have similar low-grade tech. The Empire is cheap. Remember that Han Solo blindsided Darth Vader and his wingmen during Luke's trench run. If they had seen something as big as the Millennium Falcon coming at them, they could have evaded.
The s-foils are most likely for heat management. You seem to have forgotten that you don't need a atmosphere to ahead heat. The ISS uses thermal radiators that work by venting heat as thermal radiation.
yeah it is impressive that the Rebellion kept a fleet of X-Wings on hand, this thing should have been a resource sucker on par to the German Tiger Tanks. This thing in reality would have been a logistical and ergonomic nightmare for the people in charge of the Rebellions Logistics.
The spread means that when firing at a large target, such as a Star Destroyer, the shield has to protect multiple places at once, and then when the shields are overloaded, the guns do more damage because more than one place is being hit.
I've always held a serious hate for the X-wing, so I was happy to see this video posted. Bear in mind, this is a personal opinion, and the X-wing served the rebels well, but it's by far my least favourite thing in Star Wars.
The reason for the S-(Stabilizing)-Foils to open for combat is to improve agility of the ship, and a little improvement in firing options of the laser cannons
In the game the X Wing holds 6 torpedos, just has 2 launchers...
I was going to say the same thing
the in canon x wing can hold 6 torpedos 10 concussion missiles 4 lazers the reason for the weapon on the wing is for its jack of all trades as it make it better to hit grounld targets the reason for no circle cockpit is that the life support , cooling system and shield generator are behind the cop pit as well as the cockpit was design to be a escape pod.
Perhaps they're loaded with 3 round magazines? 3 rounds per launcher?
Well, but star wars is also the place where weight changes the speed of ships in space so it's just another weird thing we have to accept
Also opening the s foils in space creates drag even tho no air resistance?
I like how most nations just either put no guns on the nose or synchronize it while Herman's just put it on the propellers
Actually the open s-foils could help cooling the ship as the heat wouldn't irradiate directly on the other wing (or in case s foils didn't exist irradiate on other parts of the wing)
Hera Syndulla fired a few shots from her X wing with the s foils closed in a battle, so it can shoot that way, but not for heavy use.
Was about to come and mention this, it might be an oversight but i do recall being able to fire in the old tie fighter/x-wing games it just wasn't very ideal, at least with four you had a wider arc to hit stuff.
In Dark Force Rising R2 fires the lasers of Luke's X-Wing while the s foils are closed
Glad someone else actually mentioned that fact, I did recall that as well from Rebels and wanted to comment it
so basically speaking:
X-wings CAN shoot while its s-foils were closed, but risk overheating the blaster cannons faster if attacking like this over periods of time.
I was thinking the same thing, Kell Tainor did it in the Wrath Squadron book(albeit, in a simulator).
On Flaw 2 (the S Foils don't conduct heat away in space) you forgot about radiation. No conduction happens in space but by increasing the surface area more heat can be radiated away.
You suggested a liquid cooled system, I don't know if the S Foils have liquid coolant in them, but how do you think the heat is removed from the liquid coolant.
Coolent could be flowed through the surface of the wing and slowly evaporate out of them. That would help with cooling.
You would run out of coolant pretty quick
@@domdagamer5285 maybe. I mean it wouldnt evaporate that quickly it would be like sweating. The reserves could last for a few hours of combat which is more than enough for virtually any battle.
And by that point its weapons would probobly be out of energy, the pilot would be exhausted, probobly sustained damage and a host of other things.
@@curseofgladstone4981 phase change cooling is neat, but simple conduction would be the most efficient way to remove heat to the S foils, since all we're dealing with is radiant dissipation. Copper or gold plating would work better, likely weight less than a liquid system, and have no moving parts to break.
the x-wing has 2 proton torpedo Launchers, its magazine is at least 3-4 each for a total of 6-8. also, an x-wing can fire with its S-foils closed, the rouge squadron games got that wrong.
The XJ model in the New Jedi Order series had 3 launchers.
If you dont put windows on your fighters and your sensors are jammed you are dead
How the fuck do you jam cameras and vr helmet? No but but but we need windows because star wars.
Also if your sensors are jammed and you can just see out of the window you are probably more or less equally dead!
@@thepurpleapple thats qhat i mean
Robert Kalinič It’s entirely possible.
"White noise", sensor overload with too much data, flechette (like used on anti-missile systems), EMP (even a low grade one would knock out sensor/cameras before they interfere with other systems), ECM (electronic countermeasures) are a few ways to knock out camera/sensor systems and many are cheap and easy to use. Having the ability to see and avoid an asteroid that the sensors do not detect because they are down would be really advantageous of a opaque windshield.
"A-wings and Y-wings standing by
X-wings and B-wings standing by
Come on Q-wing what you doing"
Q-wing: BLRUUUUEGGHHHHHHHH
My starfighter lore nerd is raging internally over the inaccuracies in this video....
There are so many!!!!
I started to list them in a post but it was getting too long so I just said ; I think you get the idea. 😤
Such as?
@@ssrobs2552 Please, read some of the other comments to the video. Most are pointing out the mistakes made, or find mine. There are a lot of mistakes.
Reckec I don't doubt you, I was just curious.
I prefer the ARC-170 over the X-wing as it's a one sexy piece of design, though I still love the X-wing.
yea its a nice craft although the three pilot design seems a bit much
I love the sound of the ARC-170 in episode 3. Those engine sounds
Personally I think the 170's are best used in unison with ground invasions. It is a sort of bulky multi-role fighter bomber with a crew of 3 + an astro mech droid. I think it would be best to clear them out of capital ship hangar space and into the carriers for a more supportive role. Save the capital ship hangar space for the more dedicated fighter and bomber roles to fight in space.
The P-61 Black Widow in Spaaaaace!!! :D
@@GenerationTech it has NO flaws...how can something that does NOT exist have flaws....you don't get out much do you.
A lot of your gripes about the S-foils simply don't hold up. The purpose of the S-foils and the weapon placement is heat management, and to that end, the design works very well. The S-foils dissipate heat the same way as the giant Radiator Panels on the International Space Station, and in attack position, they double their exposed surface area, thus increasing efficiency. Heat dissipation is further increased by placing the laser cannons, which get very hot, as far away from each other as possible.
A lot of the gripes in the video don't hold up!
Agreed. It's one thing that annoys me about the T-70 X-Wing - the X arrangement doesn't make as much sense there, as they wings don't overlap.
@RichTheWolfGaming - Except that doesn't make sense either. Radiators work by sending infrared radiation off into deep space. If you have two radiators pointing at each other (or at the spacecraft itself), you will just end up with the radiator being pointed at receiving the radiation you were trying to get rid of. The inside faces of the S-foils still point at the inside faces of the S-foils, so it won't increase efficiency at all.
@@ReddwarfIV With the angle of the S-foils to each other enough heat will be reflected away to be better than keeping the S-foils closed. If the ship stays in a straight line the heat will tend to stay with it but with the slightest turn in any direction the heat will stay on the original course.
@@dat581 - Light moves at lightspeed. Its a lot faster than the movement of the spacecraft.
It wouldn't look as cool, but it would make much more sense to have radiators at 90 degrees from each other, or to increase the wing's size, instead of making them split apart. That just adds complexity for little gain.
Biggest flaw is that it can't be ridden in the real world.
I'd say that's true about all Star Wars ships, but I still wouldn't want to fly in a TIE.
Tie advance or tie interceptor being the exception
@@gub4941 Fair.
Top 10 most inefficient anime vehicles
I agree, not flyable and too much drag
I'm sorry but you are incorrect on a few points here.
1. Yes, the weapons were mounted on the ends of the strike foils to increase field of fire. On that you are correct. S-Foils were later retconned to be heat dissipation. I am unsure why they felt that was necessary except to explain why some ships had S-foils with no weapons mounted on them.
2. NO, this did NOT make it harder to hit the target, rather the reverse. Unlike real world aircraft, a starfighter's lasers need not fire in a straight line, but can bend several degrees to track a target. This was evident in the footage for the battle of Yavin. The lasers bend at least 5-degrees off center-line (and probably more than that) while tracking the targets.
3. X-Wing lasers were capable of both chain fire (firing one laser at a time in a cycle) or group fire (firing all four lasers at once. The benefit of chain fire is a constant stream of laser fire, allowing for better target tracking thus making it more likely to hit the target. The benefit of group fire is greater damage on a successful hit (assuming all four lasers hit the target) which is more likely to overload the target's shield.
4. The X-wing had two proton torpedo LAUNCHERS, each launcher had a magazine of 3 torpedoes, totaling 6 torpedoes in all.
5. X-Wings CAN indeed fire their weapons with the S-Foils closed, though this reduces the field of fire mentioned earlier. It, however CANNOT engage the hyperdrive while the S-foils are in attack positions as while in attack position power is shunted from the hyperdirve to the weapons charging systems.
6. In the black of space, your "Mark I eyeballs" would have a hard time finding a target, especially as the maximum effective range of the X-Wing's lasers is 2.5 kilometers. Good luck spotting a TIE from 2km away with your eyes. For reference, an M61 Vulcan cannon has a maximum effective range of roughly 600 meters (and good luck actually hitting the target at ranges greater than 300 meters), less than a third of the X-Wing's weapon range. The cockpit's transparasteel canopy was designed so that a pilot could see out while the systems were powered down, such as during take-off and landing, as well as when powering down to avoid detection by scanners. The rest of the time, you would rely on your HUD and HDDs to feed you tactical information (not the mention your astromech's sensors).
actually, #1 has another function as well.
According the the cross-section books, the the weapons mounted on the tip of the S-foils in order to provide additional cooling rate. (don't know if this is retcon or not)
Actually even lasers going straight doesn't help. You are never perfectly in line with your target and having 4 guns spaced so far apart greatly increases the likelyhood of a hit. With the size of it's cannons it mostly just needs 1 hit so it makes sense to space them apart.
Firing them with the S-foils closed means the cannons are closer together and cover a smaller area with fire.
For point 6, if the X-Wing is in the process off take-off/landing, the systems couldn't be powered down, or it could not do those things at all. And there's no saying that you must only have either one and not both. Armored panel can be slide over the transparent canopy in case sensors are busted and you have no choice but to eyeball stuff. Realistically, armored cockpit is a must for space fighters for one reason; lethal tiny debris. And those will be plenty in space especially near stuff that tend to generate them such as exploding spacefighters. Those debris, at best, would scratch the canopy that would reduce their visibility in the long run or at worse, straight up punch through it to get to the pilot.
And that's just the debris. You also have to take into account the full power radiation from stars you're gonna get in space. Unless the pilot care about his/her health, riding an X-Wing without a full decked suit is not a good idea (and a lot of their pilots tend to wear little suit compared to their enemies). An armored cockpit however, would not have this problem.
@SecondSein
You also have to remember the X-wing would often be powered down in space for ambushes. They'd part on the projected route of an Imperial Ship/patrol, power down to avoid detection, and wait. In that case, they needed the visuals to spot the enemy. When running min power even passive sensors are a risk.
@@Dacl73 like I said, armored panel that can slide over the transparent canopy so that can be slide off when it's powered down and slide on when powered up.
The X-Wing could not fire backwards
however the t-80 and newer models had a single rear firing laser, like the one used in empire strikes back on the millennium falcon.
If they could, the Ties wouldnt be a big problem....
True, and the astromech could fire it, although that would prevent it making repairs while doing so. And when you've copped some shots from the rear is when you want to make repairs or divert power to shields ect.
But if missiles could be slung on the wings like with a K-Wing, just have a few aimed backwards.
Another REALLY risky option is to jettison spare parts that hit the unshielded Ties window if it's right behind you.
Why not use concussion missiles? Installed somewhere in the back.
@@beakwooda.k.aadregallus8788 Same reason the Y-Wings were so heavly stripped.
The Rebels wanted fast and light loads on their fighters.
That and the cost of the longrange weapons.
The X-Wings who attacked the first Death Star only had 2 torpedos loaded.
If you can, do 10 flaws with Mandalorian warriors.
Can't say I entirely agree on the astromech droid being a flaw. An X-Wing was still usable without one and hyperspace coordinates could be inputted manually like on any other ship without an astromech, the droid just made it easier. Yes, the X-Wing would not be working at 100% efficiency if you were missing your droid, but then you basically just have a Z-95. There aren't really any downsides to the astromech other than maybe weight or space taken up.
Weight is extremely important on a space ship, but tactical flexibility is also important. The droid can carry our repairs too, which is handy.
Luke didn't have his astromech during the deathstar battle after Vader gave him a close haircut, but the fighter still was functional
@@durocelisar exactly, an x wing without an astromech is just a Z-95 with twice the amount of weapons.
I misspoke. 'Weight' only exists relative to gravity - I meant mass.
Assuming an optimised warship, if you add mass, you reduce the max acceleration and delta V (a measure of ability to manoeuvre). If you want to keep acceleration and dV constant, for every extra 1% mass you need bigger drives (which adds mass) and more than 1% extra reaction mass (kinda like fuel). This all makes your craft bigger, thus reducing its structural integrity (unless you re-enforce it, adding mass, thus needing more drives and remass etc.), and armour (MORE mass), and makes it easier to hit.
Play some Kerbal Space Program if you wanna know how important mass is in space.
@@shraka in Star Wars, there's maximum speeds though, which are not consistent with our physics. Maybe other things aren't either.
1:19
False. Hera Syndulla was able to fire with Her x-wings S-foils closed.
And X-wings almost NEVER get ambushed because they are the obese who can jump to lightspeed, while the Tie has exit a hangar, giving them plenty of time to lock S-foils in attack position.
Another reason why the Rebel Fleet is far superior to the imperial fleet.
The First Order however....
yup
Which is why the T-70 opens its wings faster than a T-65.
In that same episode we also see Hera use all four laser cannons at once
Farmer Stepnovski also true
Farmer Stepnovski That’s has me of the X-Wing’s powers in BFII, along with launching the proton torpedoes(which are infinite in the game) and having the onboard astromech droid do repairs.
X-Wings carried a dual proton torpedo launcher in the fuselage, not the wings. And that came with a magazine of 6 torpedoes, not 2. So an X-wing can either shoot 6 torpedoes one at a time or a pair of them three times.
And if you mount torpedoes on the wings, not only do you increase target space, but also more surface area for radar or sensor detection. That's the reason why the F-22 and F-35 have internal weapons bays.
i think the reason generation tech thought the X-wing only carried 2 proton torpedoes was that lukes only carried two during the deathstar attack, because the rebellion didnt have enough to fully load all the ships
@@TytonidaeIndustries More like they didn't have the time. Remember each run only got one shot at the exhaust port for the first Death Star before they were shot down. So to increase the probability of a hit, they fired two torpedoes at once. I read the schematics on the X-Wing and it clearly states they had a magazine of 6 torpedoes.
@Hung Nguyen while you do bring up many good points, actually all of them are valid, Luke's X-wing did only have one pair of torpedo's, do to the rebellions lack of funding as stated in the (possibly now noncanon) Incredible Cross Sections.
whether that book is canon or not, i do feel that Luke only having two torpedo's for the mission fits well with how the Rebellion was portrayed
@@TytonidaeIndustries Could be. Then again, it could just be because of the movie script. In any case, the X-Wing could carry more than 2 torpedoes so that invalidates that flaw. As I recall, Wedge Antilles needed more than 2 torpedoes to destroy the power regulator in the Second Death Star.
@@TytonidaeIndustries And I need to make a correction. The X-Wing carried two Krup MG-7 Proton Torpedo launchers, not a single dual launcher and each launcher had 3 torpedoes in its magazine for a max total of 6. Each launcher can be fired separately or synchronized to fire a pair of torpedoes. Still this invalidates the flaw that X-Wing fighters only have two torpedoes.
The opening of s-foils in space can be useful for possibly exposing the overwhelmed parts used for firing to the below 0 temperatures of space
Please make a video on 10 flaws of the AAT cis tank
STILL WAITING!
@@pyeitme508 Waiting for a month but Im still patient
You're just trying to get specs in the tech for your invasion plans into the Star wars galaxy!
That's a hard video. Not much wrong with it
@@brettbush2670 Actually their are many flaws but most of them have to do how the B1 Battle droid was build
I'm pretty sure the wing mounted cannons can move independently and change the rate fire if the pilot wants them to.
I'm not so sure about the cannons moving independently but I do know that they can be fired in different ways. For example, they can be fired one at a time in quick succession, all 4 at once, or 2 at a time. Not entirely sure about the fire rate however.
@@welkingunther5417 heh hee, thats what ment. Oops...
@@alqu6375 Ah, I see. Well, it's fine for sure, mistakes and all that happen, it's normal and nothing to, mostly, worry about...I guess.
@@welkingunther5417 :D
You can't change rate of fire,but you could change the power of shots and capacitor recharge speed in Xwing simulators
The X-Wing reminds me of the F-4 Phantom. A design that had it's flaws (mainly poorer than expected maneuverability and lack of a gun) but it's sheer multi-role capabilities made it an icon and it is still in service around the world today (most recently attacking ISIS).
More like the F15 or F16?
My father was a crew chief on F4s in the late Vietnam era, and as much as he loved the plane, he always thought the attempt to make it multirole turned it into a bus with huge turbines. More like a Y-Wing in that sense. The X-wing struck me more like the F104. It looked like it should be a great flier, but unless you had a great pilot it just looked good in a picture.
Later f4e phantom 2 had 20mm vulcans mounted under the nose due to lessons learned the hard way in Vietnam as well as other upgrades
The Phantom's lack of a gun only became a problem due to using the jet in a role it was not designed for and then using it with very stupid ROE. Once the Navy properly trained its crews towards the end of the Vietnam War they achieved an excellent kill ratio and Navy Phantoms never had a gun.
The T-65 reminds me more of an F-15 or F-14. I think the F-4 is more like the ARC-170
Pilots liked the closed cockpit on the P-47, it had a big chunk of metal behind the pilot to protect him, since the P-47 was so well known for being tough, the bubble cockpit was a target
It still had that huge chunk though, in the razorback 47s, the chunk they all refer to is the armor plate behind the seat, which matches the seat's profile entirely. The P-47s with bubble cockpits still had those
6:20 I'd argue against a fighter-sized craft having a fully armored cockpit because any shot powerful enough to cripple a fighter is going to endanger or kill a pilot if aimed at the cockpit regardless of the presence of armor. You save on maintenance costs with all the cameras and sensors and shave off some weight. A full bubble cockpit should suffice, with maybe a window in the floorboard.
You will have to have radar or sensors anyway to know where enemy is and helmet that can display surroundings is not going to add a lot of maintenance. Droids and ships are cheap so why would such helmet be problem, crappy cocpit of x-wing is probably biggest flaw in its design.
@@robertkalinic335 I didn't mean to imply that the X-wing should have no sensors, simply that it shouldn't have more sensors than necessary.
@@rowanmcclantoc5418 Glass cocpit is structural weakness and cameras are super cheap compared to everything else in x-wing, get rid of structural weakness and add benefit of better situational awareness with 360 sight.
@@robertkalinic335 Glass cockpits are structural weaknesses, and large warships would do well to avoid them at all costs. However, strike craft such as fighters are infinitely more fragile, such that I don't think it's worth bothering trying to armor it. You wouldn't load your fighters with underpowered weapons to preserve the enemy pilot's life, would you?
Also G-force tolerance of a human being is much lower than that of steel or plexiglass, so the idea that a space fighter could tear itself apart with a glass canopy is dubious.
More cooling space the better thermal exhaustion is. Unfolding wings X-wing effectively doubles surfaces radiating heat out of the ship and reveals cooling devices which radiates as well, which is probably made of material radiating heat faster than ship cover. It would look great if it would start glow when overheated during the battle, but they missed that detail too.
If cooling didn't work in space what is the exhaust port on the Death star for?
@Sheila: Farts.
Please do 10 flaws with the clone trooper or venator or some kind of special forces or the most eisley cantina.
I was always wondering about the X-Wing cannons on the wings, and it wasn't until you mentioned the WWII fighter planes and the propellers that it clicked, thanks!
When the S-Foils are open it also changed the position of the four engines. making the X-Wing more maneuverable in combat. The craft relied on differential thrust to maneuver, noting the lack of RCS thrusters mounted on the body or wings.
So the Rebellion could build top of the line hyperspace capable snub fighters, but couldn't build proton torpedoes?
And considering the K-Wing design, slinging torpedoes or missiles [I'll use that term for both] on hard points would be a viable tactic, launch the anti fighter ones as you approach the furball to thin out the heard and lose the weight. Maybe have a few aimed backwards to protect your six o'clock.
Or as a coordinated strike, launch all ions in a salvo against a heavy target like a capital ship (or facility) for a big hit against the shields, then the next X-Wing does the same with protons against the now unshielded target. And then the unencumbered X-Wings now can dogfight with no extra baggage. Rinse and repeat with the next strike equipped fighters in the formation.
If each S foil could have two missiles slung on the outside edge, that gives an X-Wing an extra 8 missiles (over the 6 they could already carry internally), if it could mount three, that's 12 extra missiles, that once launched inflict no performance penalty because they are self contained, for a total of 18 missiles. That is an awesome amount of firepower if all launched at once.
Seriously the Mon Calamari couldn't build a missile assembly line on one of the support ships? It would have made the X-Wing an awesome raider/bomber for quick in and out strikes, in addition to it's other abilities.
What would have also been interesting is if Incom had updated the ARC-170 design with X-Wing tech to make a heavy strike fighter/bomber, a ARC-180, designed to hit hard and fast and get out.
And if you're being purely pragmatic about the S-foils, what do you think of the Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica, just from a design layout of the basic frame?
casbott No, the rebellion didn’t build ships at all they received them via various benefactors over time.
X wing was the first real sci fi ship I remember as a kid. Then the Viper in battle star galactica.
APJ’s Experience Viper is a better design than the X-Wing, but both are pretty darn sexy!
Everyone always picks on the poor TIEs, it's good to see someone finally point out the flaws of the X-Wing.
Thank you Alan and sorry for the challenge but well done for stepping up and finding 10 flaws
I hate to be that guy but radiators do work in space and are a common part of several space craft. If you say ran them down the length of the S-foils heat would be dissipated. And would be dispated more the farther apart they were from each other. Spreading S-foils to dispate heat better actually makes perfect sense.
I was very annoyed that he went on for so long about how S-Foils aren't good radiators, when they most definitely are.
Adding very hot lasers to the ends of the radiators also makes a lot of sense.
@@shraka Exactly, I think it just boils to misunderstanding of heat transfer, they would be less effective in space because you no longer have conductive heat loss from the atmosphere but you still have thermal radiation, it's just slower. Actually I tend to like X wings because there like the only starwars ship to acknowledge heat
You mean you wouldn't have convection or conduction. You're only left with radiation - which isn't as efficient but it's all you got.
@@shraka Exactly
+alex15035 - It makes sense to put the guns on the end of radiators, but it doesn't make sense to split the radiators apart by only 45 degrees or so. Most of the infrared radiation coming off the inside faces of the S-foils will hit another S-foil, so you would barely be increasing the efficiency if at all.
Ten flaws of the AT ST.
The Stability
The Armour
The Legs
The Size
The Design
Its Guns
Its Cockpit
The Pilots
There's 8
You'd need a eight part series- the 40 worst things about the AT-ST....
the fact that all it take to destroy it is a few furries+trees
This series is awesome and continued to do it. Great video
"Love how it looks." There you go.
Fascinating as always Alan. Could you do the trade federation hover tank? Would love to hear some background on it.
"And rebel hangars are not very large," looks at y wing
Never mind the freaking freighter in the middle of said hanger.
@@roguelead72 and the very tall imperial Lambda class T-4a shuttle next to it.
Still regardless of all it's flaws, the t-65 X-wing still remains my favorite starfighter. Still would like to have one built custom made to my spec's. (Like a radio/cd/audio tape player, high end weapons & everything a man can use in defense of himself. When ya need it & don't have it ya sing a whole different tune.) As for a paint job? Black ,w red flame trim & maybe a few decals + a couple of bumper stickers, you know flashy statements like (ahem) FASTER THAN A SPEEDING TICKET. Or something like that? oh One last, don't like my flying, dile 1-800 kiss my tailpipe! 😉😄 (enemy pilot looks on, 😳 WHO WAS THAT GUY?! )
Don't worry, the S-Foils aren't a flaw. Generation Tech got that one entirely backwards.
Love the content!! Keep it comin!
love these videos pls do the 10 FLAWS With A-wing
Heat can be radiated into vacuum in shadow. In darkness space is extremely cold, heat can easily be radiated into this coldness as heat is energy moving from hot to cold. No atmosphere neccessary to cool a vehicle.
Yes, I think you are talking about transfer by radiation.
Nope, vacuum is actually very good heat isolator.
@@robertkalinic335 Yes, convection and conducting ate impossible, but because of the temperature difference in deep space radiation will be high.
In deep space maybe, but fighting a space battle near an inhabitable planet would generate enormous amounts of heat which would need to be disapated in the only way space will allow, infrared radiation.
@@thepurpleapple Heat from weapons fire would conduct into the ship a bit, but around a star, yes
the f 35 has 4x 25 mm cannons what the hell are you talking about it has a singel 25 mm gatling gun just like most modern jet have a singel gun onboarde only like the mirage f 2000 has twin 30mm aden cannons
gatling gun style cannons are technically 4 separate cannons strapped to one rotating cannon feed
@@jooot_6850 not really. While it's true that a rotary cannon has multiple chambers with a bolt and barrel for each, they rely completely on the rotation since the actuation of the bolt is dependent on a guide within the outer shell of the gun. The chambers can't fire independently and the entire weapon has a single point at which each chamber fires
"S-Foils?" I always heard that line as "Lock AIR foils in attack position'. That's certainly what they look like: some kind of atmospheric control surface. I think "S-Foils" is a retcon to cover what was originally a ill-conceived line.
The X-wing's (and also the TIE Interceptor/Defender's) cannon placement actually made them one of the most effective ships against the Yuuzhan Vong arsenal, however. Because the Yuuzhan Vong's coralskippers had defensive "mini-black-holes" that were especially strong against weapon systems whose lasers converged with standard targeting systems, the New Republic figured out that tweaking the s-foil targeting arrays to make a messier "spread" that would make it very difficult for the living coralskippers to intercept, since they could only maintain one or two interception points at any given time. The fact that they had 4 cannons dramatically increased their chances of landing any hits, which would be especially devastating since coralskippers were living beings and had relatively minimal armor and no inherent shielding or redundant defenses on their actual organic structures.
We have an Imperial Sympathisers You are under arrest
6: why did the the tie fighter have a massive frontal window. And not have video feed or sensors. It is cheaper.
Obviously, the empire wanted quantity over quality
Who told you that ties don't? I made a post in his last video about starfighter sensors, please take a look at it.
R/woosh
@@lancer737 That was retcon, in the original 70's movie they didn't have great sensors because back then (IMHO) modern jet fighters still relied a lot on the eyeballs, and radar was more for getting a general direction on enemies and missile locks. Visual sensors weren't a thing.
@@casbot71 idk about that, they use targeting computers often, and that didn't exist back then.
A simpler explanation for lasers mounted on the tips of the wings and extending the wings into a X-configuration for firing would be that Incom used a type of powerful laser cannons (which were pretty reliable and easily repairable under limited maintenance conditions) that unfortunately generated electronic interference with each other if they were too close together. It also had a sufficient negative effect on avionics so the design put the cannons as far from the fuselage as possible and using the X-configuration to similar effect. It is not that they couldn't be used in folded configuration but their reliability took a big hit when used in that fashion and if they stopped working, base maintenance was needed to get them working again, so it was generally advisable to open the wings before use.
A two photon torpedo configuration (people commented on internal magazines for more torpedoes but there might be internal space issues) was the balance between anti-ship and anti-fighter capability of the X-Wing. More torpedo launchers would seriously degrade the maneuverability of the fighter and it was a design decision to have at least two launchers/hardpoints because it needed to be able to deliver bigger ordnance than laser hits against larger craft.
An alternative explanation is that it all looked cool, differentiated the Rebels from the Empire, and nobody actually had to design such a craft.
really enjoyed this :)
🌟🌟The 11th. & BIGGEST flaw of the X-Wing are the pilots themselves. 🌟🌟
They supposedly already have previous combat experience, that's why they're in that cockpit in the first place. The next time you watch 'New Hope', you'll notice pretty quickly that most of those pilots, IN THE MIDDLE OF COMBAT NO LESS, can't seem to find their own asses with both hands & a Polish seeing eyedog (Biggs, Porkins & others) 🐕.
Good ship, bad pilots. 👎
Don't they have simulators in the S.W. universe, or, just like underwear, they don't exist 👙❓
Panic in combat is a real thing. The rebels didn't have many veterans left who could keep a cooler head.
Trained people will panic bit fall back on their training to an extent
Why are Star Wars ships named with letters from the english alphabet when these symbols/letters don't exist in the Star Wars world?
It's still basic.
There is no evidndece that they don't exist, they are just unused in most issues, like greek alphabet letters in real life.
because star wars is made for english speaking humans? not many people here speak auberesh, basic or whatever its called
Because the movie is translated into English dumbass...
Pretty standard in fantasy films.
Who says the English alphabet *doesn't* exist?
Its amazing how flaws in a particular ship seem to come in 10’s. Not 9 or 11, but 10.
In the X-Wing Novels the T-65 carries 6 torpedoes, 3 for each lancher. In NJO the XJ X-Wings carries 9 with the addition of a third launcher.
WHEN WILL WE SEE 10 FLAWS OF THE AAT AND ATTE?!
hmm who knows ;)
@@GenerationTech and also 10 flaws with the AT-AT.
@@valtersplume3726 BEST IDEA EVER!
@@GenerationTech PLEASE MAKE THEM HAPPEN!
I'm pretty sure the X-wing has internal magazines that give it a total of 6 torpedos.
I'd also argue that the droid feature isn't a downside at all as the Tie fighter simply doesn't have the capability.
However I'd say the A-wing is a generally more logical design.
Also the F-35 has just one cannon that has 4 barrels but it is just one gun.
The Starfighter of the rebel alliance, Luke Skywalker and, Poe Dameron.
Wedge Antilles: “Am I a joke to you?
The actor who played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy was offered the chance to reprise the role for the sequel trilogy, but declined; Since he backed out, Wedge was written out entirely and replaced by the new character Poe Dameron.
In WW II, the convergence of the wing guns varied. The smaller caliber .303 converged closer than the .50 rounds. Some planes, like the P 51 Mustangs had multiple convergence points. Individual pilots sometimes had their crews change the point as well. In none of the planes did the wing guns fire parallel to the others. Modern day fighters and CAS aircraft have center mounted guns.
who needs to see when you have good sensors and displays in the cockpit.
Given most of the fighting happens at extremely close range, my question is why they bother having complex targeting systems at all when eyeballs work fine?
when your cameras are destroyed you'll be glad they choose transparasteel instead of solid opaque durasteel.
Ten flaws in the Jedi order or sith order
The video still holds up and it's great entertainment even after 5 years, just a small correction - the F-35 does not have 4 cannons, it has 1 cannon with 4 barrels. Again thank you for the content.
Actually, the X-Wing has 4 laser cannons and 2 proton torpedo launchers. The lauchers were able to carry a total of 6 torpedoes, but at the time of the Battle of Yavin, having lost so much hardware at Scariff, the rebel cell on Yavin 4, could only afford to equip each starfighter with two torpedoes. In the cross sections book, it states that the s-foils are for bleeding off radiation and heat. Space is cold, so quite a lot of radiation and heat could be bled off during combat. The s-foils are designed to keep the ships operating within a safe temperature range, to avoid damaging the many sensitive pieces of equipment.
Terrible list haha. I think science isn’t your forte.
I dont think you have a brain
I’ve been waiting in bed for a while for this
@Generation Tech
THANK YOU, SOMEONE, FINALLY TALKED ABOUT THE DEBILITATING WEAPON SYSTEMS FIRE SPREAD!!!!!! You don't need to be a historic pilot to see that trying to shoot a weapon 20 feet away from you and hit something is very difficult. I'd also like to mention the thrust to weight ratio visible. Regardless of the amount of power available on the future magic thrusters, the acceleration would always be better if you had an engine with a gun. If a ship the size of the Tie Fighter accelerates just barely faster than the X-wing, then a Tie with just one of the X-wings massive thrusters would easily give it double the acceleration of the X-wing.
For those that don't know why I say "acceleration" in lieu of "max speed," it's due to drag not existing, thus the ship will constantly accelerate (get faster), if the thrusters constantly fire.
If I were to redesign the X-wing with rebel doctrine in mind, I would remove life support to add the lighter and easier to access personal mounted life support. Remove the shield to make it accelerate faster, make it smaller, and it is not necessary for a fast craft to be godly unkillable (like American aircraft) from two laser shots. Give it only two engines that are larger and remove that massive nose moving the cockpit higher like the early jets. F-86 Sabres are a great example of how the engines could be mounted to reduce the profile if they REALLY need to collect air... in space. More modern air intakes on the side also seem to be more beneficial. Increase the fire rate, and accuracy of the guns on the X-wing (maybe "slugthrowers?" XD). Apparently, only one shot is needed from the blaster to James Bond the target so why 4? It won't do anything to a Star Destroyer, use more torpedos or increase the fire rate. 8 blasters clustered in the nose would be amazing like the P-38 (if we're using the side intakes, otherwise only 4 might be able to fit in the nose and 4 around the cockpit). This would make a devastating wall of fire.
~Minor History Lesson~
The P-51 featured two separate carburetors in its huge engine geared for different air densities. This allowed it to specialize at two separate altitudes. Most aircraft wanted to minimize weight, unlike the X-wing, because that meant they could accelerate faster and maneuver quicker. Weight has little direct effect on the speed of the aircraft. Only the acceleration and angle of flight are directly affected. American aircraft have always been big bulky and slow. More guns, less fuel efficiency, and maneuverability. Spitfires and Zeros were wooden, Me or Bf 109s had large engines. All had large thrust to weight ratios. Most fighters either had light to medium guns and around four. Americans specialized with the .50 cal (12.7mm) M2 Browning Machine Guns. The P-47 had eight of them, P-51 had four 20mm cannons. While it's okay to say that one gun can take down an enemy vehicle, it should either be accurate or high fire rate. No aircraft to aircraft weapons were low fire rate. The reason American planes could be made so heavy was that they could launch from London and take their sweet time gaining altitude to 30k feet. Then use their aerodynamic modern fighters (from massive production and industrious power other nations didn't have) to dive at high speeds gaining speed much quicker with their weight, and having a higher max speed in the dive due to their durability. This is no possible in space, so the X-wing has no reason to be thiCC.
X-Wings had 2 forward mounted torpedo launchers on both sides of the main fuselage. They are on the lower half of the hull in front of the cockpit.
Actually, if you look at the international space station, wings are a way to jettison head out into space to keep from cooking the station due to power generation. Plus the laser cannon is very large and could produce more energy per shot then a TIE or A-Wing and may need the separation from the pilot so the separation may be to keep the heat from cooking the ship.
The lasers on the wingtip needing to converge is taken care of the targeting computer. I figure it once it locks on, the computer figures out how much each laser cannon needs to move its line of fire
The number one flaw IMO besides the massively spread out weapons is the forward visibility, in a dogfight not having the nose of the craft in your line of sight is a big advantage, if you're trying to lead a shot on a target, the X-wing's nose gets right in the way of the pilots view.
IMO the ideal layout is something like the Starfury from Babylon 5, weapons close in to the cockpit, an unobstructed view from the front, sensors could make up for the lack of rear view, and the engines/reaction control thrusters are out on the tips of the wings, maximising their thrust.
There are three types of heat transfer, conduction (touching) , convection (requires a fluid like air), and radiation. Radiation is the important one when operating in a vacuum, and the more surface area utilized, the more energy that can be radiated away. Also, the weapons and thrusters are likely the largest heat generators on the ship, so it is ideal to have them out on the wings, closest to largest surface areas. This placement also keeps them away from the pilot and other more heat sensitive systems.
With that, locking the S-foils in attack position would see much more efficient heat transfer. Since the the foils are so close to each other, the radiant heat would just bounce between the interior sides of the foils and not dissipate into space.
I love these videos
The hanger shot at 4:36 reminds me of the hanger from Nintendo 64s Rouge Squadron
IMHO the best Star Wars video game to this day.
I love this series so much!
such an interesting comment section! I am taking notes for world building in space as well as coming up with designs for space craft in my head
Hi Alan, love the videos, however I don't think you understand the difference between convection cooling (transfer heat to another medium like air - which we use in air and water environments) and radiant cooling (which we use in spacecraft, for example the Space shuttle's doors were very large radiant coolers - they used liquid to take the heat from the cabin and the radiators expelled the heat via thermal radiation). Opening the S foils would double the surface area for radiating heat in space. the X design is not the most efficient, but it's still better than leaving the foils closed. Convection is more efficient but it's not available in space. ETA: No fan's DO NOT work in space. Fans work by pushing a material (like air) over a radiator for convection cooling. As there is no air in space it can't be used which is why we don't have fans on satellites, spacecraft, or probes, not even on the Parker Solar Probe.
Those who love the x-wing and despise the TIE should remember the first battle of Yavin. 32 alliance fighters, including 18 x-wings, 12 Y-wings, and 2 R-22 Spearhead Assault fighters. In response, Tarkin unleashed no fighters, but Vader ordered his personal squadron of six ships to attack. It is not often appreciated these TIE pilots were significantly outnumbered during the battle, but the members of Black Squadron were among the finest the Empire had to offer: they fought hard, and were responsible for many of the Alliance casualties. While it is true that Vader destroyed 7 ships, including 4 x-wings, in the trench, 6 more, as well as 8 Y-wings, were destroyed in dogfights.
Ironically most of the newer TIE series like the Interceptor and Defender where built to counter the X-wings suppository over the standard TIE
I'm pretty sure exposing the engines to a vacuum would cool them faster than cooling them aerodynamically. The process is literally called radiation.
This happens a lot even with modern military vehicles. To cover a lot of performance purposes in one platform you have to sacrifice the excellence in just one of those particular aspects. I'd say a good example, off the top of my head, would be the Tomcat back in it's day. The technology, power, durability, multiple role capability, and longevity was relatively high. Though, it still had it's flaws like comparative lower speed, lower maneuverability, cost, and limited upgradablity toward the end of its run. But, like the X-wing, with the right pilot in the cockpit it was unstoppable "force" in the theater of battle!
The X-Wing was primarily an escort fighter... to counter enemy fighters, which it does rather well... it isn't a bomber, which is why it doesn't have a large anti capital ordnance like say the Y-Wing. It could support in more ways than a TIE fighter because it also had proton torpedoes. Also in regards to the wings/weapons. You really need to look at the X-Wings predecessor the Z-95. This craft had static wings, lighter on engines and weapons because of it.
For the cockpit canopy, it's stated in various sources that it's made fron transpiresteel, transparent metal, so it's no less armored than the rest of the spacecraft.
In the opening film clip you show Poe firing as the foils open. As to the radiating fins, heat radiates, even in vacuum. The space shuttle had radiating surfaces in the inside of the cargo doors for use in orbit. Wookiepedia identifies the mg7 torpedo launchers on the rebellion-era t65 as having a capacity of three per launcher. I don't know where you get the idea that the f35 carries four cannons.
As for radiators, the ISS is another good example using something similar to an X-Wing S-foil.
Liquid cooling would need to be some form of chemical process to cool because normal liquid cooling is still air cooling.
A big issue is the box shaped wing shape that would cause turbulence, drag and control issues when in atmospheres.
Alan, I'm really sorry to slam you on this. A liquid cooler can be used in the X-wings S-foils. The over heated liquid flows out to the exposed radiators which are exposed to an environmental condition that can get into the -400C or more temperature. This extreme cold temperature when super cool the liquid which is then redirected back into the coolant unit. Ther emight not be air in space, but there is extreme colds.
Older video, but I figured I'd add it. In the Xwing book series (The book in particular being Wraith Squadron) one of the trainees, Kell Tainner, managed to get a snap shot off that took out a TIE fighter while the s-foils where still in cruise position. The officer in charge of the training session , Wes Janson (The gunner for Wedge Antilles' snowspeeder in the Empire Strikes Back), complimented him for the maneuver and mentioned he recorded it for future training sessions. It is possible to shoot from the cruise position, just not ideal.
Opening your s foils would actually increase heat dissipation even in space. It doubles the surface are for the wings which helps with reducing heat. While it is ultimately still not much heat dissipation that’s not because of the s foils, it’s because of spaces lack of heat acceptance. In atmosphere it would be incredibly effective. Not to mention, having the laser cannons on the end of the wings prevents the cannons from heating up the cockpit and other essential systems in the fuselage.
X-Wing had the ability to carry up to 6 proton torpedoes. 3 round mag in both port and starboard launcher tubes.
You bring up field of vision as one of the worst problems that Star Wars fighters are faced with. Have you ever thought about using COFFIN (Connection For Flight INterface) from Ace Combat? It provides a complete 360 field of vision. It would be really effective especially in the Star Wars universe where most other space craft can't offer 360 views.
very nice video.
I have it in good confidence that a X-Wing can carry SIX proton torpedoes; three in each tube (whether the R.A. uses this ordnance feature to its full extent is another story...)
The F-35 has a single 25mm cannon (mounted internally on F-35A and gun pod on F-35B/C) and numerous hardpoints as you said for missiles and bombs. The F-35 - like the F22 - can focus it's radar energy to over load the sensors of a specific target.
There's also another flaw which you failed to point out. Unlike the VF-1J Valkyrie, it can't transform into a giant robot.
Remember that proton torpedoes are very expensive. It’s makes sense that the rebellion, who is pretty underfunded, won’t drop a significant amount of money for each torpedo and equip the dozens (or more) of x-wings with ~10 expensive tornadoes each.
Just a thought ut by spreading the weapons on the S-foil tips if one gets hit you don;t necessarily lose the other one.
What makes you think the Tie fighter has an advantage over the x-wing because it was cheaper? It literally could not do anything except fly and shoot in a straight line.
Another thing about the X-Wing is the cockpit canopy. Considering the placement of the astromech droid, making the canopy a bubble top would be irrelevant since the astromech droid would still block the rear view anyway. And according to Wedge Antilles, the astromech droid serves as extra protection to the pilot from being hit from behind. He often states that the huge head of his R5 unit acts like an extra barrier. R2-D2 certainly saved Luke from a fatal blast during the Battle of Yavin.
Remember that line of sight is important in dogfights in Star Wars and the X-Wing canopy is still far superior than the Tie Fighter in that respect.
Besides which your astromech can serve as a second set of eyes monitoring the rear of your fighter.
@@davidlink3787 That too, though the astromech might be too busy repairing and monitoring the ship's systems. Despite having an extra set of eyes, that didn't save the pilots from being shot from behind during the Battle of Yavin.
One thing Generation Tech didn't mention was that the X-Wing is actually more aerodynamic in atmosphere, giving it an advantage over the Tie Fighter.
And I think he needs to rethink his comment about the quad lasers. The deployment of the S-Foils give the pilot a wider cone of fire. True the bolts will converge on a single point some distance ahead of the X-Wing but if the target is either too close or too far from that convergence point, the chances of the target getting hit by one or two bolts are still good. If you ever saw a WW2 Spitfire and its 8 wing-mounted machine guns, you'll see them spaced out. Their cone of fire is pretty wide too.
As a note the main reason behind the configuration of the 8 .303s in a Spitfire was because of ammunition feeds/magazines and where the ejection ports were than cone of fire. If you look at American fighters you will see that their MGs were mounted as close to the centerline of aircraft, while still clearing the propeller blades, as possible.
The Tie fighter pilots all have helmet mounted displays, which is almost definitely linked to external sensors all around. Their observation capabilities are likely to be superior to the primitive looking X-Wing equivalents. I highly doubt the X-Wing pilots have HMD, otherwise why do they need a separate eye-piece for the targeting computer?
@@tonglianheng Considering how terrible the heads-up display is for the stormtrooper helmets, I wouldn't be surprised if the tie-fighter pilots have similar low-grade tech. The Empire is cheap. Remember that Han Solo blindsided Darth Vader and his wingmen during Luke's trench run. If they had seen something as big as the Millennium Falcon coming at them, they could have evaded.
The s-foils are most likely for heat management. You seem to have forgotten that you don't need a atmosphere to ahead heat. The ISS uses thermal radiators that work by venting heat as thermal radiation.
yeah it is impressive that the Rebellion kept a fleet of X-Wings on hand, this thing should have been a resource sucker on par to the German Tiger Tanks.
This thing in reality would have been a logistical and ergonomic nightmare for the people in charge of the Rebellions Logistics.
"This video may be inappropriate for some users."
Touché.
The spread means that when firing at a large target, such as a Star Destroyer, the shield has to protect multiple places at once, and then when the shields are overloaded, the guns do more damage because more than one place is being hit.
I've always held a serious hate for the X-wing, so I was happy to see this video posted. Bear in mind, this is a personal opinion, and the X-wing served the rebels well, but it's by far my least favourite thing in Star Wars.
The reason for the S-(Stabilizing)-Foils to open for combat is to improve agility of the ship, and a little improvement in firing options of the laser cannons